Better AI Buy: Nvidia vs Micron

Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) and Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) both play key roles in the hot growth area of artificial intelligence (AI). The former is the dominant provider worldwide of AI chips, and thanks to this, has become almost a household name. The latter offers something crucial for an AI system to do its job, and that's memory and storage.

Both Nvidia and Micron have seen earnings and stock performance soar in recent quarters due to this presence in AI. In recent times, though, one of these stocks has continued to climb, while the other has lost momentum. Which is the better AI buy today? Let's find out.

Image source: Getty Images.

The case for Nvidia

Nvidia is far from being a young start-up. The company has been around for more than 30 years and, in its early days, focused on designing graphics processing units (GPUs), or high-powered chips, for the gaming industry. But in more recent times, chief Jensen Huang recognized the AI opportunity and shifted gears.

Today, Nvidia still serves the video game market, but its biggest business by far is designing GPUs and entire AI platforms. This has supercharged revenue growth, sending revenue to record levels -- for example, it climbed 65% to $215 billion in the latest full year.

Nvidia has remained in the lead because it is committed to constant innovation, pledging to update its chips on an annual basis. It's followed through on this with the launches of Blackwell and Blackwell Ultra, and it's now on track to release the Rubin platform later this year. The fact that it's expanded well beyond GPUs and offers networking, enterprise software, and more has also helped it stay on top.

The case for Micron

Micron, like Nvidia, is a company that's been around for many years -- more than 45 -- and has seen revenue surge in recent times due to its role in AI. You'll find the company's memory products in smartphones, personal computers, and in use throughout a variety of industries, but its place in data centers has offered Micron a particularly interesting opportunity.

As mentioned, for AI to function, memory is needed, and with an AI market forecast to reach beyond $2 trillion in just a few years, the future looks bright for Micron. The company sells DRAM and NAND memory, as well as high-bandwidth memory (HBM), which is perfectly suited to the massive demands of AI. This helped Micron deliver records in revenue, gross margin, earnings per share, and free cash flow in the recent quarter, and it's on track to double free cash flow sequentially in the coming quarter.

Demand from major customers is so high that Micron says it will only be able to meet half to two-thirds of it in the months to come. So, right now, the supply constraint is the only thing holding Micron back from even more growth.

Should you buy chips or memory?

Nvidia and Micron are both well-positioned to gain as this AI revolution moves into its next stages. But if you could only buy one right now, which should you go for? Let's take a look at recent stock performance and valuation.

Micron shares have climbed nearly 50% so far this year, while Nvidia stock has declined about 5%. Both stocks have seen valuation come down over the past year, and they trade at very reasonable prices considering their long-term prospects.

NVDA PE Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts

Micron stock clearly is off to a better start this year than Nvidia, and it may be on the way to delivering bigger gains in the short term, but I'm concerned that its inability to fully serve demand could weigh on stock performance at some point. I also see Nvidia's valuation today as a major buying opportunity for the long-term investor -- even if the stock stumbles in the months to come, it's on track to gain over time.

Though both of these stocks make excellent additions to an AI portfolio, in my opinion, Nvidia is the better AI buy right now.

Adria Cimino has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Micron Technology and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.