Growth stocks have dramatically outperformed most asset classes over the past two decades. Within that universe, large-cap tech leaders have delivered the lion's share of returns, riding tailwinds from the invention of the internet, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence (AI). In fact, a small cohort of tech giants has powered most of the S&P 500's gains in recent years.
That trend isn't just likely to continue -- it may accelerate. Catalysts on the horizon include the long-awaited "iPhone moment" for robotics, the emergence of artificial general intelligence (aka AGI), and the development of a commercially viable quantum computer.
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How can investors capture the upside from this wave of transformation? While index funds offer diversified exposure with less volatility, the biggest opportunities -- and risks -- lie in individual stocks. For those willing to think long term, here are three tech companies well positioned to ride the next tsunami of innovation.
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) continues to evolve far beyond its e-commerce roots into a diversified technology juggernaut. While its retail business provides tremendous scale, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has become the company's profit engine, generating $11.5 billion in operating income in the first quarter of 2025 alone. This cloud-computing division maintains approximately 30% market share globally, positioning Amazon perfectly to capitalize on the explosive growth in AI workloads.
CEO Andy Jassy recently highlighted that AI-related cloud services are growing at triple-digit rates as enterprises rush to deploy generative AI applications. Simultaneously, Amazon is transforming its massive fulfillment operations with over 750,000 robots that process orders 25% faster while reducing costs by a similar margin. This automation advantage is expected to yield $10 billion in annual savings by 2030, according to Morgan Stanley analysts.
Looking further ahead, Amazon's early investments in quantum computing through its AWS Braket platform and proprietary "cat qubit" technology could prove transformative if the technology matures as expected. Despite these multiple growth vectors, Amazon trades at a reasonable 31.8 times forward earnings at the time of writing, offering investors an attractive entry point into one of tech's most diversified players. The stock's core risks revolve around the evolving tariff negotiations.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) has staged an impressive comeback since its difficult stretch in 2022. Under CEO Mark Zuckerberg's leadership, the company restructured aggressively, cutting costs, streamlining operations, and doubling down on AI initiatives. The result is a leaner, faster-moving Meta that dominates global social media.
Meta's family of apps, consisting of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger, now serves more than 3.4 billion daily active users, giving it unmatched reach for advertisers. That scale is translating into strong financials again. In Q1 2025, revenue jumped 16% year over year to $42.3 billion, driven by more effective ad targeting powered by AI-enhanced recommendation engines.
While Reality Labs revenue declined 6% amid slower Quest headset sales, Meta remains committed to its metaverse ambitions. The company is also building one of the world's largest AI clusters, with 350,000 Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) H100 graphics processing units (GPUs) deployed by the end of 2024 -- equivalent to 600,000 GPUs in compute power. Trading at around 23 times forward earnings as of this writing, Meta stock offers strong near-term cash-flow generation and long-term upside potential from its AI/immersive computing build-out. Its main risk factor centers around the popularity of its family of apps.
Nvidia has emerged as the undisputed engine of the AI era, evolving from a graphics chip company into the foundational infrastructure provider for AI worldwide. Its dominance in AI accelerators is staggering, with most large-scale AI training workloads running on Nvidia's graphics processing unit architecture. Moreover, the widespread adoption of its Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) software platform has created a powerful lock-in effect, reinforcing its hardware lead.
That dominance is reflected in the numbers. In Q4 of fiscal 2025, Nvidia posted $39.3 billion in revenue, a jaw-dropping 78% increase year over year. The surge was driven by its data center segment, which grew 93% to $35.6 billion relative to the same period a year ago. Gross margins stood at a healthy 73% in the quarter, fueled by insatiable demand for its high-performance AI chips.
Despite its formidable competitive moat, several other companies are attempting to build competing ecosystems that could cut into the company's growth trajectory within a few years. That's a key risk factor investors will want to keep an eye on moving forward.
But Nvidia isn't a one-trick pony. Under CEO Jensen Huang, the company is building a full-stack AI ecosystem that includes CUDA, enterprise-grade software, and its Nvidia Inference Microservices (NIM) -- a toolkit that allows developers to deploy optimized AI models across a range of cloud and edge environments. This platform-first strategy positions Nvidia as a component supplier and an end-to-end AI solution provider.
While the stock trades around 31 times forward earnings, that premium looks reasonable in light of Nvidia's explosive earnings growth and its central role in powering the global AI transformation. As such, Nvida stock scans as a must-own for investors seeking the purest play on AI infrastructure in the broadest sense.
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John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. George Budwell has positions in Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Meta Platforms, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.