3 Stocks to Buy as Washington Stalls

While the temporary government shutdown is certainly having an adverse effect on certain parts of the economy that rely (either totally or in part) on government workers, it's not slowing the pace of artificial intelligence (AI) development. Companies building data center infrastructure, for instance, are still spending aggressively because no one wants to risk falling behind (although certain government permitting and interactions could slow things temporarily).

Let's look at three stocks riding the AI boom to buy now that are unlikely to be stalled by the current heated political wrangling going on in Washington, D.C.

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Nvidia

Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) has quietly been evolving from a provider of graphics processing units (GPUs) that power AI workloads into a company that is starting to shape how data centers get built and where AI is headed. The company's CUDA software platform, upon which most foundational AI code has been built, has given the company a wide moat, but it is starting to go beyond that.

The company is now dictating the shape of entire data center buildouts, packaging its chips with proprietary networking, cooling, and software stacks, and in some cases deciding which customers get the earliest shipments of its top-end hardware. Nvidia's recent investment of up to $100 billion in OpenAI is part of that strategy, as it locks in a huge customer for its highest-end chips while the two companies will work together to shape how the next generation of large language models is trained. This follows an earlier investment in Intel in which the company will use its central processing units (CPUs) and start to jointly develop chips.

And while ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits) for AI workloads are on the rise, it has been reported that even powerhouses Amazon and Alphabet give Nvidia notice before announcing any updates to their custom chips. That is power right there, and why Nvidia is a stock to buy.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing

Quite simply, there is no AI without Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE: TSM). TSMC currently manufactures nearly all of the world's most advanced chips, not just for Nvidia but also for other competitors such as Advanced Micro Devices and Broadcom.

TSMC's competitive edge is well known, as it has been the only foundry that can consistently produce high yields at smaller node sizes, which is needed to scale the manufacturing of advanced chips like GPUs. What is often overlooked is how that has shifted the balance of power to the company.

While customers may want to diversify suppliers, they also cannot risk moving their most advanced designs elsewhere because no other foundry can match TSMC's consistency at scale. The company has been using that leverage to raise prices as it invests heavily in fabs outside Taiwan. It's also made TSMC much more of a partner to chipmakers than simply a contract manufacturer. Chip designers now must work with TSMC on their product roadmaps and secure future production well in advance.

Like Nvidia, TSMC has a lot of power in the AI infrastructure industry that cannot be ignored.

ASML

Perhaps the company most vital to the AI infrastructure buildout is often the one most overlooked. ASML (NASDAQ: ASML) has an effective monopoly on extreme ultraviolet lithography machines, the equipment that is required to print the smallest transistors on advanced chips. Without it, neither Nvidia nor TSMC would be in the position they are in today, because its technology is needed to make advanced chips.

Each of its machines sells for more than $220 million, and its new high-NA model costs nearly double that, yet customers have no alternative. The story with ASML is straightforward but powerful. As long as demand for AI chips drives foundries to expand capacity and shrink node sizes (how many transistors that can fit on a chip), ASML will keep selling a lot of EUV machines.

Its move to take a stake in Mistral AI shows it is not standing still on innovation, but the real investment case is its unrivaled grip on the one technology that keeps shrinking node sizes. That makes it a powerful growth stock that is insulated from consumer trends and government shutdowns.

Geoffrey Seiler has positions in Alphabet. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends ASML, Advanced Micro Devices, Alphabet, Amazon, Intel, Nvidia, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. The Motley Fool recommends Broadcom and recommends the following options: short November 2025 $21 puts on Intel. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.