Artificial intelligence is already reshaping industries and driving real revenue growth for the companies building and powering it. From chips and cloud infrastructure to software and automation, AI is becoming a core competitive advantage.
Below are some of the top AI stocks to consider buying now, followed by tips on how to invest in the space.
10 AI stocks to buy in 2026
| Name and ticker | Market cap | Dividend yield | Industry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) | $4.3 trillion | 0.02% | Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment |
| Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) | $3.6 trillion | 0.29% | Interactive Media and Services |
| Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) | $3.6 trillion | 0.28% | Interactive Media and Services |
| Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) | $2.8 trillion | 0.93% | Software |
| CoreWeave (NASDAQ:CRWV) | $43.2 billion | 0.00% | IT Services |
| Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) | $1.5 trillion | 0.37% | Interactive Media and Services |
| Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) | $98.2 billion | 0.00% | Software |
| Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) | $274.2 billion | 0.86% | Multiline Retail |
| Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) | $2.3 trillion | 0.00% | Multiline Retail |
| Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) | $355.1 billion | 0.00% | Software |
| Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) | $421.0 billion | 1.37% | Software |
1. Nvidia
NASDAQ: NVDA
Key Data Points
Nvidia (NVDA +0.87%) has become the backbone of the AI revolution. Its graphics processing units (GPUs) are the industry standard for training and running large language models, making the company one of the earliest and biggest beneficiaries of generative AI.
Once known primarily for gaming chips, Nvidia now supplies the core hardware for data centers worldwide. Its data center segment generates the vast majority of its revenue, fueled by surging demand from cloud computing providers and AI start-ups.
Revenue has exploded since 2023, with full-year sales reaching $215.9 billion in 2025, up 65% year over year, and it expects strong growth in 2026. Nvidia has also expanded beyond chips, offering full-stack AI infrastructure that includes networking, software, and systems designed to run AI workloads at scale.
After the blowout success of its Blackwell platform, Nvidia expects to roll out the next-generation Rubin platform in the second half of 2026. Demand continues to outstrip supply, underscoring Nvidia’s dominant position.
Beyond data centers, Nvidia is investing in autonomous vehicles, robotics, and “physical AI.” These initiatives remain a small part of revenue today, but they could become meaningful growth drivers for Nvidia over time.
2. Alphabet
NASDAQ: GOOGL
Key Data Points
Alphabet (GOOGL -0.57%) (GOOG -0.20%) has been investing in artificial intelligence for more than a decade, highlighted by its acquisition of DeepMind in 2014. Today, AI touches nearly every part of its business.
The company’s Gemini models power products across Google Search, YouTube, Google Cloud, and Workspace. While some investors worried that generative AI could threaten Google Search, advertising revenue continues to grow steadily.
Alphabet is also a leader in autonomous driving through Waymo, which operates fully driverless ride-hailing services in multiple U.S. cities. On the infrastructure side, Alphabet designs its own AI chips, known as TPUs, putting it in direct competition with Nvidia in certain workloads.
In 2026, Alphabet is planning $175-$185 billion in capital spending, much of it aimed at AI infrastructure. With information and data at the heart of its business, Alphabet remains one of the most deeply integrated AI companies in the world.
3. Microsoft
NASDAQ: MSFT
Key Data Points
Microsoft's (MSFT +1.11%) partnership with OpenAI has made it one of the most visible players in AI. The company began investing in OpenAI in 2019 and now owns a significant minority stake following the startup’s restructuring.
AI is embedded across Microsoft’s ecosystem, from Azure cloud services to Microsoft 365 Copilot, Edge, and GitHub. Azure OpenAI has seen rapid adoption, with more than 65% of Fortune 500 companies using the service.
Microsoft has also diversified its AI strategy by supporting multiple internal and third-party models across its platforms, reducing reliance on any single partner. Azure AI Foundry, launched in late 2024, allows customers to build and manage AI applications and agents, and adoption has grown quickly.
CEO Satya Nadella has called AI the next major computing platform, and Microsoft’s heavy investment reflects its determination to lead that transition.
Microsoft also owns a significant stake in OpenAI, which was valued at 27% before a recent funding round.
4. CoreWeave
NASDAQ: CRWV
Key Data Points
CoreWeave (CRWV +4.84%) may be the closest thing to a pure-play AI infrastructure stock. The company’s cloud platform was designed specifically for AI workloads and counts customers like Nvidia, OpenAI, Microsoft, and Meta among its core clients.
Revenue growth has been explosive. CoreWeave went from minimal sales in 2022 to $1.9 billion in 2024 and is expected to generate more than $10 billion in revenue in 2026.
That growth comes with risk. Microsoft accounted for 67% of revenue in 2025, and the company carries heavy debt and large capital expenditures. Nearly all of CoreWeave’s revenue is directly tied to AI demand.
For investors seeking direct exposure to AI infrastructure, CoreWeave offers high upside, along with elevated risk.
5. Meta Platforms
NASDAQ: META
Key Data Points
Meta Platforms (META -0.82%) doesn’t operate a cloud platform, but it’s investing heavily in AI across advertising, consumer apps, and hardware. Meta AI is embedded across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp and reached 1 billion monthly active users in 2025.
AI plays a growing role in ad targeting and creative tools, and Meta aims to automate much of the advertising process using AI. The company also continues to develop its open-source Llama models, now in their fourth generation.
Beyond software, Meta is incorporating AI into devices like Ray-Ban smart glasses and Meta Quest headsets. The company sees AI as central to its long-term strategy across experiences, advertising, and hardware.
6. Adobe
NASDAQ: ADBE
Key Data Points
Adobe (ADBE +0.64%) has successfully integrated AI into its creative software ecosystem. Its Firefly generative AI tools are designed to enhance, not replace, creative work, and Adobe has taken a cautious approach to training models using licensed and public data.
More than 18 billion images have been generated using Firefly since launch. Adobe has also expanded into agentic AI, offering tools that improve productivity for marketing, analytics, and operations teams.
While Adobe’s growth has slowed in recent years, it remains a dominant player in creative and marketing software and is well-positioned to benefit from AI adoption across enterprise teams.
7. Alibaba
NYSE: BABA
Key Data Points
Alibaba (BABA -1.36%) has broad exposure to AI through cloud computing, e-commerce, and logistics. Its Qwen family of large language models underpins a rebuilt AI-focused cloud platform, and the company plans to invest more than $50 billion in AI infrastructure.
AI is also used to improve Alibaba’s e-commerce operations, including product recommendations, search, and automation. The company has partnered with Nvidia on physical AI projects and continues to expand its data center footprint.
While consumer demand in China remains uneven, Alibaba trades at a discount to many U.S. peers and maintains a strong competitive position in its home market.
8. Amazon
NASDAQ: AMZN
Key Data Points
In some ways, Amazon has lagged its big tech peers in AI. It doesn't have a leading large language model, and it seems to have gotten off to a late start in generative AI.
However, Amazon does have a competitive advantage in AI. It still has the largest cloud infrastructure in Amazon Web Services (AWS), and that includes Amazon Bedrock, a fully managed service that provides access to foundation models, allowing AWS customers to deploy AI models as needed.
Amazon is using AI in other ways, including with Alexa+ and Amazon Seller Assistant, an agentic AI tool for its marketplace sellers.
9. Palantir
NASDAQ: PLTR
Key Data Points
Palantir has become one of the stars of the AI era as the stock began to skyrocket after the company launched its artificial intelligence platform (AIP) in 2023. That platform combines with the rest of its stack to help its customers more easily search through and analyze their data.
AIP has helped cut down process time significantly for some of its customers' projects, driving strong growth both from the government and commercial businesses.
Palantir has little direct competition, and the success of AIP has widened the gap between Palantir and would-be challengers.
10. Oracle
NYSE: ORCL
Key Data Points
Oracle has traditionally been known for database software, but more recently, the stock has moved according to the company's prospects in AI.
Oracle's cloud infrastructure division has been growing rapidly thanks to AI demand, and the company is spending aggressively on capital expenditures, seeing it reach $50 billion for the fiscal year ending in May 2026.
It's also embedding generative AI in its cloud software applications, and has a $300 billion deal to supply computing power to OpenAI, showing it has big plans to ramp up AI-focused data centers.
How to invest in AI stocks
If you're looking to invest in AI stocks, it's a simple process. Just follow the steps below.
- Open your brokerage app: Log in to your brokerage account where you handle your investments.
- Search for the stock: Enter the ticker or company name into the search bar to bring up the stock's trading page.
- Decide how many shares to buy: Consider your investment goals and how much of your portfolio you want to allocate to this stock.
- Select order type: Choose between a market order to buy at the current price or a limit order to specify the maximum price you're willing to pay.
- Submit your order: Confirm the details and submit your buy order.
- Review your purchase: Check your portfolio to ensure your order was filled as expected and adjust your investment strategy accordingly.
AI technologies powering these companies
Most AI innovation across these stocks falls into a few core categories:
- Machine learning: Models trained on large datasets to identify patterns and make predictions.
- Deep learning: Advanced neural networks used in language models, image recognition, and autonomous systems.
- Generative AI: Tools that create text, images, video, or code in response to prompts.
Pros and cons of investing in AI stocks
Pros
- Significant long-term growth potential
- Broad adoption across industries
- Potentially transformative technology
Cons
- Valuations can be volatile
- Heavy capital spending may not pay off
- Competition and disruption remain intense
What to consider when investing in AI stocks
Investing in AI stocks requires a lot of the same analysis and considerations as investing in any stock. Here are some things to consider if you're investing in AI stocks.
Look for durable advantages
Most AI stocks are well-established tech companies, but some have stronger competitive advantages than others in AI. Nvidia, for example, dominates the market for data center GPUs, giving it a strong competitive advantage.
Understand the business model
There are lots of different ways to make money in AI. There are chip companies like Nvidia, infrastructure companies like CoreWeave, software companies like Adobe, and companies like Microsoft that are diversified across verticals. Each one of these subsectors offers a different set of risks and opportunities, and it's important to understand how they differ from each other.
Assess AI exposure
Most tech stocks are doing something with AI, but some companies have more exposure than others. Nvidia and CoreWeave, for example, are virtually pure-play AI stocks, making most of their revenue directly by powering AI. Meta, on the other hand, makes almost all of its revenue from advertising, though it says that AI has enhanced its advertising product.
Strategies for investing in AI stocks
The AI sector is relatively new, and having a strategy is key to success.
First, it's a good idea to diversify your holdings across different AI subsectors. This means, in addition to holding a semiconductor stock like Nvidia. You'll also want to consider a hyperscaler like Amazon or Alphabet, or a software stock like Microsoft and Palantir. Perhaps even a physical AI company like Tesla. You can also diversify internationally with a stock like Alibaba, Taiwan Semiconductor, or ASML. Even within semiconductors, you can diversify with an equipment maker or manufacturer like ASML or Taiwan Semi, or a memory-chip maker like Micron.
You can also consider using ETFs to invest in AI stocks, as they will do the work of diversifying. Some good options are the Van Eck Semiconductor ETF, and the Global X Artificial Intelligence & Technology ETF.
You'll also want to consider growth rate and valuation. Most AI stocks are growing rapidly, but not all of them are. Additionally, valuations are lower than you might expect for some of these stocks, especially in the semiconductor sector.
Finally, it's worth considering how much exposure these stocks have to AI. Some, like Nvidia and CoreWeave, have a high degree of exposure, while others, like Amazon and Meta, are mostly moving in line with their core businesses.
The bottom line
AI is already translating into real revenue and sustained investment, and the strongest opportunities in 2026 are coming from the companies building and deploying AI at scale.
If you’re investing in AI stocks, a long-term mindset and diversification across several leaders can help balance growth potential with risk.
Related investing topics
FAQ
Artificial intelligence stocks: FAQ
About the Author
Jeremy Bowman has positions in Amazon, CoreWeave, Meta Platforms, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Adobe, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, Oracle, and Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool recommends Alibaba Group and recommends the following options: long January 2028 $330 calls on Adobe and short January 2028 $340 calls on Adobe. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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