Artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to bring significant efficiency gains to businesses over the long term but will require substantial investment. Morgan Stanley expects spending on AI infrastructure, including chips and data centers, to exceed $3 trillion over the next three years.
Investors don't need to take unnecessary risks to build wealth from AI. You can invest in highly profitable, industry-leading companies and outperform the broader market. Here are two top AI stocks to buy today that could double in value by 2030.
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1. Broadcom
The recent pullback in Broadcom's (AVGO +1.87%) stock presents a great buying opportunity. This top semiconductor has a history of growing free cash flow at high double-digit rates. The prospects for more growth, driven by booming demand for advanced chips and networking components in data centers, could lead to higher free cash flow and attractive returns for investors over the next five years.
CEO Hock Tan noted at a recent Goldman Sachs technology conference that they continue to see "robust demand for AI compute." Broadcom is one of a small group of semiconductor companies that are supplying the different chips to meet this demand, resulting in limited competition and high profit margins. Broadcom reported a 63% year-over-year increase in AI-related product revenue last quarter. Management expects another year of strong growth in fiscal 2026.
NASDAQ: AVGO
Key Data Points
Custom AI accelerators account for the majority of Broadcom's AI revenue. However, Broadcom is also seeing strong demand for its Tomahawk 6 and Jericho 4 networking switches. These are must-haves for connecting large clusters of chips for processing massive data sets for AI.
Broadcom has been a leader in the semiconductor industry for many years. Its trailing-12-month free cash flow has doubled over the last five years and is currently $25 billion.
Analysts expect the company's free cash flow to grow at an annualized rate of 37%, underscoring why Broadcom stock could surge amid increasing demand for AI infrastructure. This is enough growth to double the stock in the next three to five years.
2. Microsoft
Microsoft (MSFT +0.63%) isn't only a familiar brand in productivity software, but is also one of the leading cloud computing services for enterprise, positioning it to capitalize on the AI boom. Revenue grew 18% year over year in the recent quarter, and analysts have been raising their long-term earnings-growth projections.
Microsoft's biggest growth engine is its cloud services, which provide recurring revenue through subscriptions. This steady revenue generation significantly lowers the risk profile of Microsoft's business. Cloud revenue increased 26% year over year in the last quarter to $49 billion, accounting for approximately two-thirds of Microsoft's business.
NASDAQ: MSFT
Key Data Points
The company's Azure enterprise cloud platform is serving as the digital backbone of an increasing number of organizations. As CEO Satya Nadella said, Microsoft is building "a planet-scale cloud and an AI factory." Azure revenue surged 40% year over year last quarter, making it one of the fastest-growing cloud providers.
Microsoft has $392 billion in remaining performance obligations with a weighted average duration of approximately two years. This means that most of this revenue will be realized soon, rather than over the long term. Customers are signing cloud deals to address near-term needs. This demand will benefit Microsoft's pricing and margins, driving growth in free cash flow.
Analysts currently expect free cash flow to grow at an annualized rate of 23%. The stock is trading at a high price-to-free-cash-flow multiple of 45, but even allowing for some multiple compression, the stock has a good chance of doubling by 2030. Microsoft's momentum and opportunities to continue scaling its cloud business should make it a rewarding investment.
