Want to Buy Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks in 2026? These 2 Companies Could Net You Millions in Retirement.

Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) has been a significant winner so far from the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution. That makes sense, as it's the supplier of the most sought-after high-performance chips needed to train and power AI models.

However, in 2025, shares of numerous other tech companies soared as investors flocked to just about anything related to AI. Investors who want to gain exposure to the trend at this point should look for companies with staying power, though, as in general, life-changing returns come from long-term investing. Nvidia certainly qualifies, and it still looks to have a long runway for growth. Yet I'm also focused on another name in the sector that could be an excellent long-term investment.

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Nvidia holds the lead

Nvidia's plan to release new and updated hardware on an annual cadence -- an acceleration from the 2-year cadence it historically followed -- is one reason the stock remains a great holding. In its most recent quarterly report, CEO Jensen Huang stated that "Blackwell sales are off the charts, and cloud GPUs are sold out." While the Blackwell GPU architecture was announced in early 2024, the first Blackwell GPUs delivered to customers are less than one year old.

Yet Nvidia has already begun production of its next-generation Rubin architecture, which it calls an AI supercomputer.

Here's how Huang described it when he introduced the platform at this month's CES conference in Las Vegas: "Rubin arrives at exactly the right moment, as AI computing demand for both training and inference is going through the roof. With our annual cadence of delivering a new generation of AI supercomputers -- and extreme codesign across six new chips -- Rubin takes a giant leap toward the next frontier of AI."

The Rubin platform offers several improvements compared to Blackwell. Nvidia is innovating to propel agentic and physical AI, which could be the next wave in AI use cases.

Rubin can enhance advanced AI reasoning and optimize model inference, all at a cost per token that will be as low as one-tenth of the Blackwell platform's cost per token. That lower cost should attract even more demand, as it can improve profitability for model developers. Developers using the Rubin platform will also be able to train some types of AI models with 75% fewer GPUs, which could accelerate AI adoption, according to the company.

The China market, though, remains a wild card for Nvidia's business. Management has not factored any potential sales to Chinese customers into its guidance due to the evolving situation around trade restrictions and geopolitical tensions. Yet progress has been made regarding both U.S. export and Chinese import restrictions. Nvidia has ordered its foundry partner to produce mass quantities of its H200 chips, as Huang expects high demand from the Chinese market, and anticipates that Chinese authorities will approve those purchases. Chinese tech companies have reportedly expressed interest in ordering hundreds of thousands of H200s.

That additional revenue could propel Nvidia shares higher.

Nvidia's boosting other AI winners, too

All of that business is also spurring demand for other companies. Physical AI is another major phase of the AI revolution. Huang discussed it extensively at CES, stating, "The ChatGPT moment for physical AI is nearly here." Specifically, that relates to machines that are able to understand, reason, and take action.

Among the likely beneficiaries of the physical AI trend will be companies developing driverless vehicles and those working on robotics. One that is immersed in both of these fields is Serve Robotics (NASDAQ: SERV). Nvidia at one time had a stake in Serve, but sold it about a year ago. But the companies still have a partnership, and speaking at CES, Huang said he "loves" Serve.

Serve Robotics' delivery robots utilize Nvidia's Jetson Orin platform hardware and software to operate using Level 4 autonomy. Serve is a pioneer in autonomous delivery systems that travel via sidewalks, and has deployed a fleet of over 2,000 delivery robots so far.

It has expanded its active fleet 20-fold within a year, driven by growing partnerships with restaurant chains, retailers, and delivery platforms, including its largest shareholder, Uber Technologies. Serve is also integrated with DoorDash, and is launching in new markets while expanding its scale in its established ones.

Serve Robotics remains a speculative investment that's already trading at a level that bakes in a lot of hoped-for growth. Management guided for revenue of just $2.5 million for 2025, while its market cap has grown to over $1 billion. Yet if management's expectations for this year are correct, the stock could still soar further. Its early estimates project revenue of approximately $25 million for 2026.

If it shows progress toward that rate of growth and can maintain it over the longer term, current shareholders should be well rewarded.

Howard Smith has positions in Nvidia and has the following options: short February 2026 $170 calls on Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends DoorDash, Nvidia, Serve Robotics, and Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.