A Once-in-a-Generation Investment Opportunity: Here's My Top AI Stock for 2026

Investment opportunities like this don't come around very often. Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to make an impact that few technologies have. Massive gains from improved worker efficiency could bolster profits like we've never seen before, and investing in this lucrative field is a genius idea for investors. However, there are several ways to invest in AI, making it somewhat confusing as to where investors should start.

To me, there's one clear choice, and it has been the clear choice since 2023: Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA). Nvidia is leading the way with its cutting-edge computing hardware that is being deployed to train and run AI models. Even though its stock has risen a lot already, I think there's a generational investment opportunity that investors cannot afford to miss.

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Nvidia is just getting started

Most investors, especially newer ones, will look at Nvidia's stock chart and assume they've missed the boat. After all, it has risen nearly 1,200% since 2023. That's known as price anchoring, and is a common trait that all humans exhibit. However, it can be dangerous for investors.

Instead of looking at where you could have bought it years ago, investors must change their mindset and look at where it could go over the next few years. The market is a forward-looking machine, so investors must be also. Fortunately for prospective Nvidia investors, the artificial intelligence party is just getting started.

Nvidia makes graphics processing units (GPUs), which have a unique ability to process multiple calculations in parallel. This makes them ideally suited for tasks that require extreme computing power, like generative AI. However, GPUs have also been successfully deployed in other applications, like engineering simulations, drug discovery, and mining cryptocurrency. Still, nothing touches the GPU demand we're seeing from AI.

In 2025, Nvidia estimated that global data center capital expenditures totaled around $600 billion. However, that figure is expected to rise to $3 trillion to $4 trillion by 2030. While that projection may be easy for investors to brush off and think that Nvidia is just inflating the AI market more, I think investors should be a bit more accepting.

Nvidia has more information about this market than nearly anyone else. It has also sold out of capacity for its cloud GPUs as of Q3. As a result, AI hyperscalers are ordering GPUs years in advance to secure their hardware when the time comes for it to be installed in a data center. This gives Nvidia a great looking glass into the future, and I'm inclined to believe Nvidia's management. Even if the dollar figure falls short of the $3 trillion to $4 trillion range, I think the direction of increased AI spending is the correct one.

But what does this mean for Nvidia and its investors now?

Nvidia owns a large chunk of the computing market already

Nvidia holds an impressive amount of the AI computing market already. However, rising competition from AMD and Broadcom could steal some of the growing market share. As a result, I'll reduce my growth expectations. For FY 2026 (ending January 2026), Wall Street estimates that Nvidia will generate around $213 billion. If the $600 billion global data center capital expenditure estimate is to be believed, then it's clear Nvidia gets over a third of total data center spend. That's a huge market share, but if we cut that share to 25%, it bakes a bit of conservatism into the estimate.

Should the 2030 market reach the $3 trillion level, Nvidia could be slated to produce $750 billion in revenue by 2030 if it maintains a 25% market share. That's a bold projection, but with Nvidia's history of producing leading equipment, I don't think it's out of the question. $750 billion in revenue would be more than triple what it's producing now, making the stock an excellent investment.

It's rare to see any company triple its revenue in five years, let alone one the size of Nvidia. However, there is a massive amount of money being spent on AI infrastructure, and Nvidia is one of the best ways to profit from these buildouts. AI is a generational investment opportunity, and Nvidia is my top way to capitalize on that in 2026.

Keithen Drury has positions in Broadcom and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends Broadcom. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.