At different times in recent years, the crypto market has been one of the most profitable and volatile places to invest. For instance, since 2018, the value of the best-known cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, has experienced highs of $64,000 and lows of $5,100 and currently sits at about $30,000.
And despite over 20,000 different cryptocurrencies on the market, none have delivered the long-term growth stability found in the tech industry.
Tech companies are in a near-constant state of innovation and development, which can almost guarantee consistent gains over many years. In 2023, all eyes have been on the booming artificial intelligence (AI) market, which is projected to expand at a compound annual rate of 37% through 2030. As a result, AI stocks are increasingly attractive investments this year and could offer more reliable gains than the crypto market.
Here are three AI stocks with more potential than any cryptocurrency.
1. AMD
Shares of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 1.14%) have soared over 600% in the last five years, nearly double the growth of Bitcoin. The company has profited massively from technological advances that have increased demand for high-powered chips, granting it solid positions in multiple markets.
Wall Street has grown particularly bullish on AMD in 2023, boosting its stock by roughly 80% year to date, almost entirely based on its prospects in AI.
The semiconductor company isn't the first to get into AI, with fellow chipmaker Nvidia having a head start as the primary supplier of graphics processing units (GPUs) to OpenAI's ChatGPT. But AMD has massive support from many of Nvidia's clients and other tech companies that hope increased competition will bring down the cost of AI chips.
As a result, cloud giant Microsoft is bolstering AMD's AI chip expansion by supplying financial and engineering resources. The partnership is helping AMD bring the fight to Nvidia, with the company launching its most powerful GPU to date in mid-June.
It remains to be seen what companies the new chip will attract as clients. However, AMD's long history of success in the chip industry and solid leadership from CEO Lisa Su suggest it could soon match Nvidia's AI offerings and profit substantially from the growing sector.
2. Apple
Apple might not be the first name that comes to mind when considering AI companies, but its dominance in consumer tech puts it in the unique position as the one that will likely be the main driver of public adoption of the technology. Apple is using AI to power many of its software features across its product lineup.
Companies like Microsoft and Alphabet have frequently spoken about their AI endeavors, while Apple has taken a quieter approach and instead focused on impressing with AI-enabled software updates.
In June, it announced a revamp to the iPhone's autocorrect, which uses a language model similar to ChatGPT's to learn a user's texting style. Meanwhile, AirPod Pros will receive an AI upgrade that automatically turns off noise canceling when the wearer engages in a conversation.
Apple holds leading market shares across its product lineup, including smartphones, headphones, tablets, and smartwatches. As AI develops, it will likely continue adding new features to its devices, profiting from boosted sales as they attract shoppers.
Apple, which has risen roughly 300% since 2018, has more potential than any cryptocurrency and is far more reliable.
3. Amazon
Amazon (AMZN 0.58%) seemingly fell behind its biggest competitor, Microsoft, in AI, but has made substantial strides in the industry this year. Meanwhile, its leading market share in cloud computing with Amazon Web Services (AWS) could be a significant advantage over the long term.
Rather than attempt to compete with ChatGPT and Alphabet's similar service, Bard, Amazon aims to fulfill other generative AI needs. At the start of July, the company unveiled two new AI tools for AWS users.
The first is called Bedrock, which uses language models to help clients create custom chatbots, image-generation services, and content like full ad campaigns. AWS also introduced CodeWhisperer, a tool that makes software development more efficient by producing code.
In addition, Amazon is one of the few cloud companies going into hardware development. It is producing AI chips that, according to CEO Andy Jassy, will have "much better price-performance than you'll find anywhere else." As the home of the world's biggest cloud platform, its brand recognition could eventually put it on equal footing with Nvidia and AMD.
Amazon has become a household name with the resources to expand and succeed in nearly any market. Its growing venture into AI and other businesses makes it a better investment than any cryptocurrency.
