With the S&P 500 climbing, extending its gains in this bull market, you may wonder if it's too late to get in on the action. But I've got some good news for you: When you invest over the long term -- at least five years -- you'll find great investing opportunities during any market environment. In investing, time is on your side, offering you the chance to benefit as a company evolves and delivers on various promises from product launches to earnings growth.
Today is a particularly interesting moment to invest in technology as we head for what could be the next revolution in the field: artificial intelligence (AI). Some AI stocks have soared, while others haven't yet gained momentum -- and in both of these areas, you'll find players likely to gain over the long term. That's why if you have $50,000, or even a smaller amount, that you don't need for everyday expenses and want to grow over time, it's a fantastic idea to invest it in a basket of tech stocks that may benefit from the AI boom.
So now, let's talk about the best stocks to buy right now. The following four all could become AI winners, but they also have solid businesses beyond this technology. So, when you buy them, you aren't betting the farm on just one particular area, and this offers you a fantastic combination of growth and safety.
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1. Super Micro Computer
Super Micro Computer (SMCI +0.89%) stock has soared a mind-boggling 2,200% over the past three years, so you may hesitate to get in on this story now. But this actually could be just the beginning of Supermicro's growth story because we're in the early days of AI development -- and Supermicro can benefit from growth of all of the top AI chipmakers.
This is because the maker of servers, full rack scale solutions, and other equipment needed for AI includes chips of these players in its systems -- and it follows their product development closely so that it can immediately make these innovations available to its customers.
Supermicro said recently that it's seeing ongoing record demand for its rack scale solutions for AI including some of these best-selling chips. And new releases, such as the upcoming launch of Nvidia's Blackwell architecture could further boost orders. All of this should translate into ongoing earnings growth well into the future and push the shares higher.
NASDAQ: SMCI
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2. Intel
Intel (INTC 4.09%) is the leading maker of central processing units, the key component of a computer. But Intel hasn't yet benefited from the excitement surrounding AI. The chipmaker fell behind in the AI space, and that's been one of the elements weighing on its shares.
But things may be about to change for two reasons. Intel recently launched a new portfolio of AI products, including its Gaudi 3 AI accelerator that may even challenge Nvidia's H100 chip.
NASDAQ: INTC
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Of course, Nvidia's preparing to launch its most powerful chip ever based on the Blackwell architecture as mentioned above -- so I don't expect Intel to beat this market leader. But it doesn't have to. Gaudi 3's performance and affordability could help it carve out enough market share to boost Intel's earnings and eventually share price over time.
And Intel's second bit of good news? The company is opening up its manufacturing to others, and this could result in a whole new growth driver as the AI boom continues.
3. Amazon
Amazon (AMZN 0.91%) has a long track record of earnings growth thanks to its leadership in the high-growth markets of e-commerce and cloud computing. And this is likely to continue as the company has invested to help it maintain leadership here. In e-commerce, Amazon has revamped its fulfillment network to make deliveries faster, a move that pleases customers and makes Amazon more cost efficient.
As for cloud computing, AI is set to play a big role in growth moving forward. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is heavily investing to serve the AI customer's every need -- from the basics like chips and software to a fully managed service that allows customers to tailor popular large language models for their own use.
This should help AWS keep its long-held position as the world's No. 1 cloud computing services provider -- and lift revenue over time. That's particularly good news because AWS historically has been the driver of overall profit at Amazon. And all of this means Amazon stock has plenty of room to run, even after recent gains.
NASDAQ: AMZN
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4. Alphabet
Alphabet (GOOG 1.18%) (GOOGL 1.26%) is known for helping most of us on a daily basis. It's the owner of Google Search, the search engine with more than 90% share of the global search market. Alphabet's top business even has managed to enter our language, with people often answering a question with: "let's Google it."
And now, Alphabet's investment in AI is likely to further strengthen the company's leadership in the search market. Alphabet recently launched Gemini, it's most advanced AI model yet, and is incorporating AI in all products and services -- including search. The move is making search better and making the advertising process easier, and this should keep advertising revenue climbing. This is key because Alphabet makes most of its revenue through Google advertising.
Alphabet also offers investors a solid track record of earnings growth, and even during the recent difficult economic times, advertising revenue held up pretty well. That makes this company one of the safest AI bets on my list, and a great place to park a portion of your $50,000 today.
