The AI era roars on, boosting business for companies that use AI and for those that support its infrastructure.
Meta Platforms is leaning into AI and has future monetization opportunities ahead in WhatsApp and Threads.
Taiwan Semiconductor is the key cog behind most of the chips going into data centers, and that shows in its outstanding growth.
Earnings season is in full swing. So far, Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE: TSM) have stood out from the pack for their strong performance.
The common theme? Artificial intelligence (AI) has presented remarkable growth opportunities, and both companies are effectively hitting it out of the park. As these businesses continue to reach new heights in the AI era, their share prices are bound to follow suit.
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Here are the specific catalysts that make these two unstoppable growth stocks arguably the best place you can invest $1,000 right now.
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Meta Platforms is the undisputed king of social media. Its family of apps, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads, continues to grow, with daily active users rising by 7% year over year to 3.58 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025. The company is leaning into AI across its business, from developing AI tools for advertisers and content creation to AI-powered consumer devices. It all goes into making Meta's apps more appealing to users, then helping advertisers target them.
While it's already impressive that Meta surpassed $200 billion in revenue in 2025, the company has still only begun monetizing WhatsApp and Threads, which should continue to drive more revenue for Meta over the coming years. Meta is spending up to $135 billion on capital expenditures in 2026. It's a lot, and can be a legitimate concern. Still, Meta's unstoppable core business should give investors some confidence that it will ultimately see a worthwhile return on those investments.
AI hyperscalers are pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into data centers, which has been an absolute boon for Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC). The company was already the world's leading chip manufacturer. But TSMC manufactures for Nvidia, which owns somewhere around 80% of the AI data center chip market. Nvidia's growth has enabled TSMC to steadily increase its market share over the past few years, now accounting for approximately 72% of global foundry revenue.
TSMC capped off a strong 2025 year with fourth-quarter earnings headlined by 20.5% year-over-year revenue growth and 35% earnings growth. According to McKinsey & Company, global data center spending could reach $6.7 trillion by 2030, suggesting this AI boom isn't close to over yet. Analysts estimate that TSMC will grow earnings at an annualized rate of 30% over the next three to five years, suggesting plenty of upside still ahead for a stock that trades at just 34 times earnings.
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Justin Pope has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Meta Platforms, Nvidia, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.