A $3,000 investing budget may not sound like a lot, especially when reading about the massive portfolios of many pros. Nonetheless, some investors have built considerable portfolios on less, making such a sum a good place to start.
Moreover, with demand for technologies driven by artificial intelligence (AI) going through the roof, investors can still find AI-related stocks with significant potential for gains. When taking these factors into account, investors may want to consider investments in the three following stocks.
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1. Taiwan Semiconductor
Investors will likely struggle to find a company more central to AI than Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM -2.57%), the leading manufacturer for all of the top chip companies.
Although its customers design their chips, Nvidia, Apple, Qualcomm, and many others depend on TSMC (as the company is also known) to manufacture their most advanced chips.
According to market researcher TrendForce, TSMC dominates its industry with a 67% market share. And it shows no signs of stopping, even as it yields to political pressure to produce more chips outside of Taiwan. The company has pledged between $38 billion and $42 billion on capital expenditures this year and will increase its total investment in its U.S. factories to $165 billion.
TSMC's growth is so strong that it generated $26 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2025, a 42% increase from a year ago. That generated $12 billion in net income, 47% higher year over year, as it kept a lid on operating expenses.
But TSMC sells at a price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of 25 despite the rapidly improving financials. That likely means a low valuation and rapid profit growth should help push the stock higher.
2. Airbnb
Investors tend to think of Airbnb (ABNB -0.81%) as a travel stock and give little thought to its AI.
Nonetheless, Airbnb thrives on a strong brand identity, network effects, and a website that links interested parties who need travel accommodations with homeowners. It uses AI to perform many of the required tasks more effectively.
Among these AI-driven capabilities is writing a property description based on pictures, providing customer service, optimizing pricing, and detecting fraud.
These abilities allow the site to more effectively draw customers while reducing operational costs. In the last quarter, they helped Airbnb book 143 million nights and experiences, an 8% yearly increase.
A sluggish economy and more-intense competition have weighed on Airbnb. Its first-quarter revenue of $2.3 billion was just an 8% increase. Also, higher spending in product development as well as sales and marketing reduced its profits. Consequently, the company earned $154 million in the first quarter, down from $264 million a year ago.
Still, a sluggish stock performance has kept its valuation in check, and it trades at just 35 times earnings. That is significantly below late last year, when the P/E was just under 50.
With this AI stock looking increasingly like a bargain, it could spark a recovery as Airbnb's value proposition continues to improve.
3. Alphabet
Another affordable AI stock that investors seem to have overlooked in recent years is Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL -0.94%) (GOOG -0.84%).
The company is an AI pioneer, having introduced the technology as early as 2001. But the rise of ChatGPT and other generative AI models has called Alphabet's business model into question -- the advertising that supports Google Search and other platforms was 74% of revenue in the first quarter of 2025.
The company owns numerous businesses, and Google Cloud has generated an increasing share of its revenue. Moreover, a recent funding round valued its autonomous-vehicle segment Waymo at $45 billion, even though it's never mentioned in earnings reports.
The recent report said that first-quarter revenue of $90 billion rose 12% compared to the same quarter in 2024. Also, reduced expense growth helped boost the company's net income, which surged 46% higher to almost $35 billion.
Despite that increase, the stock fell slightly over the last year. That allowed its P/E to fall to just 19, making it the "Magnificent Seven" stock with the lowest valuation. That lower earnings multiple and rapid profit growth have given investors the opportunity to buy a prominent AI stock at a discount.
