A Once-in-a-Lifetime Investment Opportunity: The 3 Best Stocks to Take Advantage of the AI Build-Out

A Once-in-a-Lifetime Investment Opportunity: The 3 Best Stocks to Take Advantage of the AI Build-Out

Keithen Drury, The Motley Fool

Thu, September 3, 2026 at 1:50 PM GMT+3 5 min read

The artificial intelligence (AI) build-out is providing some generational investment opportunities that investors cannot afford to miss. The returns you can earn in this time frame will be unavailable during most of your life, and positioning your portfolio to take advantage of this incredible opportunity is the best thing you can do. If you're looking for stock ideas to take advantage of, I've got three great ones that I think will be long-term beneficiaries of this trend.

The three I'm buying are Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), and Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU). These three are all primed to rise throughout the rest of 2026 and into 2027, making them great buys right now.

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Alphabet

At the outset of the AI arms race, Alphabet fell a bit behind some of its peers. However, that has turned around, and now Alphabet is broadly recognized as a leader in this segment. Alphabet's AI models have been integrated into its legacy products, such as the Google Search engine and its YouTube video streaming service. However, where Alphabet is making the bulk of its profit from AI is in cloud computing.

Alphabet plans to make about $200 billion in capital expenditures this year, with nearly all of that going to build data centers. This is to fuel its cloud computing unit, which is seeing incredible demand. The company's past efforts are turning into gigantic revenue growth, with Google Cloud revenue increasing 82% year over year in Q2.

If Alphabet can keep this up (which it likely can due to huge demand and enormous investments), it will see major growth in this sector of its business. With the rest of the business also thriving thanks to AI features, Alphabet is a no-brainer buy and set to be one of the biggest long-term beneficiaries of the AI build-out.

Nvidia

Nvidia is the world's largest company by market value, and it has risen to this spot due to supplying a vast majority of the computing units deployed in the AI arms race. It has had an incredible run, but it's far from over yet. Although some Wall Street analysts were projecting a slowdown in Nvidia's growth next year, Nvidia countered those estimates.

It told investors it expects about 70% revenue growth next year -- simply incredible considering the company's size. However, none of this has been priced into Nvidia's stock yet, and it trades for a modest 24 times this year's earnings estimates.

If Nvidia ends the year at this market-average valuation, then next year it will be free to rise in line with its business growth: about 70%. If you can snag a stock that can return 70% in one year, you're a happy investor. I think Nvidia is a great bargain here, and with its dominance, it makes for a top AI stock to buy right now.

Micron

Last is Micron, which is getting a huge boost from the AI build-out. The demand from the AI hyperscalers has eaten up all available memory chip production capacity, causing component prices to soar. Micron is a key memory chip supplier, and with none of its input costs changing, its revenue and profits have soared during the past year.

The supply shortage isn't expected to ease until 2028, and even then, there's no knowing what the market will look like. This could be the long-term reset the memory market needs to become a top industry to invest in. With Wall Street analysts expecting Micron's revenue to grow at an 85% pace in fiscal year 2027 (ending August 2027), it makes for a strong investment pick right now, especially considering it trades for a dirt cheap 6 times fiscal year 2027 earnings estimates.

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Keithen Drury has positions in Alphabet and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Micron Technology, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

A Once-in-a-Lifetime Investment Opportunity: The 3 Best Stocks to Take Advantage of the AI Build-Out was originally published by The Motley Fool