3 AI Stocks Poised to Outperform Micron and Sandisk as the Next Infrastructure Bottleneck Builds

Micron and Sandisk have been two of the most defining AI stocks over the past year. The shifting focus from AI chips to memory chips produced tremendous returns for early investors, and people who missed out on those two growth stocks are eying new opportunities.

These three stocks may have what it takes to outperform the memory chip giants as more bottlenecks become apparent in the AI buildout.

Image source: Getty Images

1. Innodata

Innodata (NASDAQ: INOD) organizes data so it is easier for tech giants to train their AI models. Five of the Magnificent Seven companies work with Innodata, and as data accumulates, the demand for Innodata's services should rise.

Unfortunately for long-term shareholders, the stock produced an unceremonious 15% decline over the past year. However, it offers a good entry price for long-term investors, especially when assessing second-quarter results.

During that quarter, revenue surged by 58% year-over-year, with net income doubling as well. The company also diversified its business while boosting its top line. In the first quarter, Innodata's largest customer represented 56% of total revenue. That figure dropped to 37% of total revenue in the second quarter, largely driven by multiple new customers and a top customer that raised spending.

Innodata continues to broaden its customer pipeline and said it recently secured "one of the fastest-scaling frontier labs" as a new customer. Full-year guidance implies 40% year-over-year revenue growth, which can set the stock up for a rebound.

2. Nebius

While Innodata hasn't performed well over the past year despite strong fundamentals, Nebius (NASDAQ: NBIS) has captured far more attention. Its stock has more than doubled this year amid a flurry of catalysts.

Nebius specializes in neocloud services. It intends to have up to 5 gigawatts of AI data center capacity in its pipeline by the end of the year. That energy is in high demand from the largest hyperscalers as artificial intelligence requires more compute capacity. AI chips and memory chips aren't much good if a tech giant has no access to power.

Nebius' Q2 shareholder letter demonstrates how much demand is growing. The annual contract value per megawatt was $12 million at the start of 2026. That figure jumped up to $20 million per megawatt in the second quarter, and Nebius said it is working on short-term capacity deals that exceed $40 million per megawatt each year.

The megawatt figure is pretty important when factoring in Nebius' five gigawatt target (5,000 megawatts). If Nebius secures $40 million per megawatt per year, it can be looking at $200 billion in annual recurring revenue once all of its five gigawatts are ready for delivery. However, it can take multiple years for Nebius to reach that point, and the company has locked in many deals that have annual contract values below $40 million per megawatt.

Furthermore, it's still a capital-intensive business in the early stages of developing its sites, but cloud revenue surged by 454% year-over-year to reach $582.3 million. It shows that Nebius is realizing significant revenue, which should continue to compound as more sites are completed. Nebius also secures high prepayments for most of its deals, which helps to fund data center construction while minimizing stock dilution.

3. Vertiv

AI chips are foundational for artificial intelligence, but those same chips can quickly overheat due to all of the computations they perform. Vertiv's (NYSE: VRT) liquid cooling solutions help AI racks maintain temperatures so the chips inside of them do not overheat.

This positioning has turned Vertiv into a critical bottleneck of AI infrastructure. The company has a deep relationship with Nvidia and has become the industry standard for liquid cooling and thermal management in data centers.

That helps to explain why the growth stock rallied by more than 50% this year, and recent financial results imply that the gains can continue from current levels. Vertiv reported 24% year-over-year revenue growth in the second quarter.

Vertiv CEO Giordano Albertazzi explained in a press release that each technological advancement leads to deployments that "grow more complex and more infrastructure-intensive." When that happens, Vertiv's existing customers come rushing back for more, and they aren't afraid of paying high amounts for Vertiv's products and services.

Sales should accelerate in the second half of the year since Vertiv anticipates 31% year-over-year revenue growth in its full-year guidance.

Marc Guberti has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Innodata, Micron Technology, Nvidia, and Vertiv. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.