Over the past decade, many of the best stocks to invest in have been in the tech sector. Even with the current market turmoil, this will likely be the case over the long term. The reason is that much of the industry is on sale amid one of the biggest technological shifts in decades with artificial intelligence (AI).
Given the market volatility, if I had $50,000, I wouldn't invest it all at once. Instead, I would look to build positions over time, taking advantage of any dips to add to positions. Against that backdrop, let's look at two top tech stocks you can start building positions in now.
1. Alphabet
NASDAQ: GOOGL
Key Data Points
Alphabet (GOOGL 0.42%) (GOOG 0.56%) is currently caught in the middle of an investment community that thinks AI will be disruptive to its search business and a Department of Justice (DOJ) trial that claims AI will extend its search monopoly. Both cannot be true at the same time.
AI will likely disrupt some search, but much of this won't be to the search queries where Google makes most of its revenue. Historically, the company only serves ads on about 20% of its searches, and its most profitable queries are very simple words or phrases, such as "iPhone," "auto/car insurance," or "cheap flights." Meanwhile, the company should be able to monetize AI down the road with different ad formats given its vast history of search data and large network of advertisers.
While the DOJ is asking the courts to break up the company, there is a good argument that Alphabet's individual businesses are worth more separately than the current value of Alphabet's stock. The company has assembled a strong collection of businesses that extend well beyond search.
Alphabet is the largest digital advertiser in the world. While Google search is the key component to that, its YouTube streaming service by itself is the fourth-largest digital advertising platform in the world. Meanwhile, Alphabet also helps serve ads for other companies as well. This includes large companies like Pinterest, where it helps the social media company better monetize users in emerging markets.
Outside of ad-based businesses, Alphabet owns the third-largest cloud computing business in the world with Google Cloud. This has been the company's fastest-growing business, as it helps customers create their own AI models and apps and run them on its infrastructure platform. It has developed its own foundation AI model, Gemini, as well as custom AI chips, which help lower costs.
In addition, it owns the leading robotaxi company in the U.S. in Waymo, which is the only one currently offering paid rides. This business has been gaining strong market share and expanding into new cities, making it a valuable part of the company. It has also made great strides in quantum computing with its Willow chip.
Trading at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio under 17 times based on analysts' 2025 estimates, Alphabet stock is just too cheap for the collection of market-leading and emerging businesses under its umbrella.
Image source: Getty Images.
2. Broadcom
NASDAQ: AVGO
Key Data Points
Another great option in the technology sector is Broadcom (AVGO 4.11%), which played a pivotal role in helping Alphabet design its custom AI chip. While Broadcom engages in various business activities, its application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) business presents the greatest growth potential.
Through this business, the company assists customers in developing custom AI chips tailored for specific applications. Custom chips take time to develop and have more upfront costs, but they perform better at their specified tasks and consume less energy than graphics processing units (GPUs), which are the main chips used to power AI workloads.
The first custom AI chip Broadcom helped develop was Alphabet's tensor processing unit (TPU), which was designed specifically to optimize AI workloads within its Google Cloud's TensorFlow framework. Alphabet has said the chips both improve performance and reduce operating costs due to their lower power consumption. Alphabet recently introduced its newest custom AI chip, Ironwood, the first designed specifically for inference.
The success of Alphabet's custom AI chips has led to other customers turning to Broadcom to help them develop their own AI ASICs. Broadcom has said that its three custom AI chip customers furthest along represent between a $60 billion to $90 billion serviceable addressable market in its fiscal year 2027 (ending October 2027) alone. Meanwhile, the company has continued to add other new customers, including Apple, to its custom chip lineup. These customers should help fuel growth in later years.
While there is a lot of noise around tariffs and trade policies, Broadcom is still well positioned. Given the upfront costs to design custom chips, customers aren't likely to pull back on projects with these chips. As such, Broadcom should have a lot of future growth ahead.
Trading at only 21 times fiscal 2026 analyst estimates (ending October 2026), the stock is attractively priced at current levels.
