Best AI Stocks to Buy in 2026 and How to Invest in Them

Artificial intelligence is already reshaping industries and driving real revenue growth for the companies building and powering it. From chips and cloud infrastructure to software and automation, AI is becoming a core competitive advantage.

Below are some of the top AI stocks to consider buying now, followed by tips on how to invest in the space.

Nvidia (NVDA -3.18%) has become the backbone of the AI revolution. Its graphics processing units (GPUs) are the industry standard for training and running large language models, making the company one of the earliest and biggest beneficiaries of generative AI.

Once known primarily for gaming chips, Nvidia now supplies the core hardware for data centers worldwide. Its data center segment generates the vast majority of its revenue, fueled by surging demand from cloud computing providers and AI start-ups.

Revenue has exploded since 2023, with full-year sales reaching $130.5 billion in 2024, up 114% year over year, and growth continuing into 2025. Nvidia has also expanded beyond chips, offering full-stack AI infrastructure that includes networking, software, and systems designed to run AI workloads at scale.

The company is currently rolling out its Blackwell platform, with the next-generation Rubin platform expected in the second half of 2026. Demand continues to outstrip supply, underscoring Nvidia’s dominant position.

Beyond data centers, Nvidia is investing in autonomous vehicles, robotics, and “physical AI.” These initiatives remain a small part of revenue today, but they could become meaningful growth drivers for Nvidia over time.

2. Alphabet

Alphabet (GOOGL -1.96%) (GOOG -2.08%) has been investing in artificial intelligence for more than a decade, highlighted by its acquisition of DeepMind in 2014. Today, AI touches nearly every part of its business.

The company’s Gemini models power products across Google Search, YouTube, Google Cloud, and Workspace. While some investors worried that generative AI could threaten Google Search, advertising revenue continues to grow steadily.

Alphabet is also a leader in autonomous driving through Waymo, which operates fully driverless ride-hailing services in multiple U.S. cities. On the infrastructure side, Alphabet designs its own AI chips, known as TPUs, putting it in direct competition with Nvidia in certain workloads.

In 2026, Alphabet is planning $175-$185 billion in capital spending, much of it aimed at AI infrastructure. With information and data at the heart of its business, Alphabet remains one of the most deeply integrated AI companies in the world.

3. Microsoft

Microsoft's (MSFT +0.72%) partnership with OpenAI has made it one of the most visible players in AI. The company began investing in OpenAI in 2019 and now owns a significant minority stake following the startup’s restructuring.

AI is embedded across Microsoft’s ecosystem, from Azure cloud services to Microsoft 365 Copilot, Edge, and GitHub. Azure OpenAI has seen rapid adoption, with more than 65% of Fortune 500 companies using the service.

Microsoft has also diversified its AI strategy by supporting multiple internal and third-party models across its platforms, reducing reliance on any single partner. Azure AI Foundry, launched in late 2024, allows customers to build and manage AI applications and agents, and adoption has grown quickly.

CEO Satya Nadella has called AI the next major computing platform, and Microsoft’s heavy investment reflects its determination to lead that transition.

4. CoreWeave

Meta Platforms (META -3.24%) doesn’t operate a cloud platform, but it’s investing heavily in AI across advertising, consumer apps, and hardware. Meta AI is embedded across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp and reached 1 billion monthly active users in 2025.

AI plays a growing role in ad targeting and creative tools, and Meta aims to automate much of the advertising process using AI. The company also continues to develop its open-source Llama models, now in their fourth generation.

Beyond software, Meta is incorporating AI into devices like Ray-Ban smart glasses and Meta Quest headsets. The company sees AI as central to its long-term strategy across experiences, advertising, and hardware.

6. Adobe

Adobe (ADBE +2.86%) has successfully integrated AI into its creative software ecosystem. Its Firefly generative AI tools are designed to enhance, not replace, creative work, and Adobe has taken a cautious approach to training models using licensed and public data.

More than 18 billion images have been generated using Firefly since launch. Adobe has also expanded into agentic AI, offering tools that improve productivity for marketing, analytics, and operations teams.

While Adobe’s growth has slowed compared to earlier years, it remains a dominant player in creative and marketing software and is well positioned to benefit from AI adoption across enterprise teams.

7. Alibaba

In some ways, Amazon has lagged its big tech peers in AI. It doesn't have a leading large language model, and it seems to have gotten off a late start in generative AI.

However, Amazon does have a competitive advantage in AI. It still has the largest cloud infrastructure in Amazon Web Services (AWS), and that includes Amazon Bedrock, a fully managed service that provides access to foundation models, allowing AWS customers to deploy AI models as needed.

Amazon is using AI in other ways, including with Alexa+ and Amazon Seller Assistant, an agentic AI tool for its marketplace sellers.

9. Palantir

Palantir has become one of the stars of the AI era as the stock began to skyrocket after the company launched its artificial intelligence platform (AIP) in 2023. That platform combines with its other platforms to help its customers more easily search through and analyze their data.
AIP has helped cut down process time significantly for some if its customers' projects, driving strong growth both from the government and commercial businesses.

Palantir has little direct competition, and the success of AIP has widened the gap between Palantir and would-be challengers.

10. Oracle

Oracle has traditionally been known for database software, but more recently, the stock has moved according to the company's prospects in AI.

Oracle's cloud infrastructure division has been growing rapidly thanks to AI demand, and the company is spending aggressively on capital expenditures, seeing it reach $50 billion for the fiscal year ending in May 2026.

It's also embedding generative AI in its cloud software applications, and has a $300 billion deal to supply computing power to OpenAI, showing it has big plans to ramp up AI-focused data centers.

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