Artificial intelligence (AI) investing is still the best place to be if you're looking to maximize returns on your investment. While the jury is still out on whether generative AI will provide adequate returns on the massive amount of money being invested in the technology, there are several companies benefiting from the massive artificial intelligence spending spree right now.
The most popular example is Nvidia (NVDA 1.21%), and I still think it's the best AI investment available on the market. The company is pursuing an estimated $3 trillion market opportunity by 2030, and with its dominance, the stock likely is just getting started.
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Nvidia is at the heart of AI
Nvidia makes graphics processing units (GPUs), the most popular computing units to deploy with AI workloads. Nvidia continuously innovates and is launching a new chip architecture that provides huge improvements over last year's model.
Compared to Blackwell GPUs, next-gen Rubin GPUs require a fourth of the number to train an AI model, and a tenth of the number to provide inference. That's a huge advantage and will drive many to upgrade to the latest and greatest model from Nvidia.
Nvidia is on a one-year product development cycle, so investors will also learn about its next-generation architecture sometime later this year. With each improved GPU launch will come greater capabilities and a bigger price tag. But if a client has to pay only double the cost to receive four to 10 times the performance, that's a win for everyone involved.
NASDAQ: NVDA
Key Data Points
While a ton of GPUs have been deployed already, this is just scratching the surface of what's necessary to run an AI-first business and consumer world. This will require many more data centers, and many that were announced throughout 2025 won't need chips until 2027 or beyond. It takes a long time to build these gigantic facilities, and filling them with computing units is one of the last steps.
This supports Nvidia's projection that global data center spend will rise to $3 trillion to $4 trillion annually by 2030. The company already has orders stretching out several years because companies want to secure computing units before they need them. The growth case for Nvidia is just getting started, yet the stock barely trades for an above-market premium.
NVDA PE Ratio (Forward 1y) data by YCharts
At 25 times fiscal 2027 earnings (ending January 2027), Nvidia is barely more expensive than the S&P 500 index, which trades for 22.2 times forward earnings.
That's really not much of a premium to pay for a stock that has a massive market opportunity and is growing its revenue fast. I think Nvidia is the top AI stock to buy in February, and investors should scoop up shares before it reports Q4 earnings that month.
