AI stocks have been some of the market’s biggest winners in 2026. By early October, chip stocks alone had soared more than 80% for the year. The past few weeks have been rougher, though. Rising interest rates and worries about how the AI build-out will be paid for have sparked a sharp selloff in tech. If you would like to take exposure to oversold AI stocks, you can also explore 10 Oversold AI Stocks: Where Wall Street Analysts Are Spotting 50%+ Upside. When stocks grow this fast, expectations climb just as quickly. Broadcom CEO Hock Tan, whose company is one of AI’s biggest winners, recently warned that those expectations may have gone too far. On October 12, speaking at a conference in Singapore, he said:
A lot of investors have no clue what they’re investing in, but set very extreme expectations, only to find out that it’s almost like they are in a casino gambling.
The irony in that warning is that Broadcom’s own AI chip revenue more than tripled from a year earlier in its latest quarter. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang sees things differently. He believes demand for AI infrastructure will outrun the supply of parts needed to build it for years to come.
I think both of them are right, just about different things. Tan is right that many investors buy anything linked to AI and expect it to keep soaring. Huang is right that the demand for AI is real and still growing. The way to stay out of the casino is to own companies already making money from that demand. When a company’s profits are rising fast, its stock price has something solid behind it. Those are the kinds of companies this list focuses on.
Methodology
To come up with the list of the top 10 fastest-growing AI stocks to buy now, I looked at AI companies that grew their earnings by more than 30% this year and are expected to grow their next year’s earnings by at least 30%. These companies have a market cap of at least $20 billion, so they are established firms that should stay relevant even if AI infrastructure spending slows down. They are also popular among US hedge funds and are listed in ascending order of their next year’s earnings growth rate.
10. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM)
Taiwan Semi opens my list because it is the most important foundry in the world. Every AI chip designer depends on the company’s manufacturing expertise to bring its design to reality. Even at a valuation of around $2 trillion, the company continues to grow its earnings at a high rate, projected to be just over 30% for the next year.
The main driver of this growth is the unprecedented demand for compute. In the words of the company’s CEO C.C. Wei, the demand is still far above the company’s capability to supply. Yes, TSM is expanding its capacity, and most of the capacity that hasn’t yet come online is already booked in advance. But that also means investors carry the risk of this demand fading away. While that is unlikely, any negativity surrounding the AI capex will result in the stock price going down, and investors need to be ready for that.
The company has guided to $53.3 billion in revenue at the midpoint, with 2026 growth set to be at 44% in US dollar terms. Going forward, the capital spending between 2026 and 2028 is set to be significantly higher than the past three years, a sign that it expects growth beyond the next year as well. This also gives the stock a premium valuation, and we discussed previously whether the jump in profit justifies TSM’s premium valuation.
9. Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT)
Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) is riding the AI data center boom because of its integral role in data center construction. The company supplies the power and cooling equipment that helps keep data centers running smoothly. Its earnings are up 60.15% this year and projected to rise 36.45% next year.
Just like TSM, Vertiv is facing unprecedented demand. To cater to this demand, it is also taking the acquisition route, announcing the completion of its acquisition of UtilityInnovation Group on October 27. This would help the company capture a bigger market by moving upstream toward the grid connection.
Foreign trade policy continues to be a risk for the company, though some recent success in the Supreme Court has allowed the company to file for some refunds of the tariffs it has previously paid. Investors are more concerned about the unpredictable order timing, though, as it makes it hard to predict future earnings reliably. This is also a factor in valuation, with many wondering whether a faster-growing rival, nVent (NYSE: NVT ), is a better valuation play at this stage of the growth cycle.
8. Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR)
Palantir, rather unsurprisingly, has also made it to my list of the fastest-growing AI stocks to buy now. The stock’s high valuation has consistently raised the question of how much of this fast growth is already priced in, which means investors are more worried about the price they’re paying for the company’s growth rather than the materialization of the growth itself. The company’s moat, which it has formed through its ‘ontology’ offering, allowing governments and businesses to use AI to act on their data, is as strong as a moat can be. Despite all this, analysts have continued to doubt whether a growth rate this high can be repeated every year well into the future. I have previously covered why analysts believe Palantir’s high growth won’t last. So far, the company has proved its detractors wrong at every stage of its growth.
The latest buzzword is ‘AI sovereignty,’ and CEO Alex Karp is quite outspoken on this issue. He believes closed-weight AI models, like the ones from Anthropic and OpenAI, can easily migrate the intellectual property of whoever uses their models. Palantir allows the firm to keep its IP by only integrating its ontology layer on top of the enterprise data. The CEO calls this ability a reason why the firm’s customer base is deepening and why its Q3 guidance suggests the growth rate will continue. We will find that out on November 2 when the company reports its earnings.
7. Credo Technology Group Holding Ltd (NASDAQ:CRDO)
Credo Technology makes the list of the fastest-growing AI stocks to buy now because of its exceptional 81.98% EPS growth this year. The earnings are set to rise by another 53% over the course of next year as well, making Credo an attractive investment. In fact, Insider Monkey’s hedge fund data shows that 86 hedge funds held a position in the stock as of Q2 2026, up from 59 in the previous quarter.
Credo is another winner of the data center boom. It sits on top of the opportunity presented by the shift to photonics and co-packaged optics, but there’s an interesting catch. No matter which technology out of optics or copper wins, Credo is set to be a beneficiary, and I covered the details of this in my article Copper, Optics, or CPO? Credo Is Positioned to Win Whichever Way It Goes.
Having said that, the company’s top 10 customers accounted for 90% of its fiscal 2026 sales, so there is a sort of concentration risk that is still there. If investors are still willing to expose themselves to such a risk, why not shift that risk to the technology itself and look at the Top 10 Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) Stocks to Buy in 2026 that I just covered last week?
6. Astera Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB)
Astera Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB) is a fast-growing company because of its central role in connecting processors, memory, and accelerators inside an AI rack. It is expected to increase its EPS by 62.4% next year, on top of the 117% earnings growth this year. The company’s next leg of growth is coming from Scorpio fabric switches, which are well ahead of schedule to become the company’s largest product family in the just-concluded quarter.
The company also scored a major win in the third quarter when Nvidia decided to allow competing AI accelerators inside its systems. ALAB benefits from this because it provides the connectivity solutions that enable these integrations. If you’d like to read about the impact of Nvidia’s move on ALAB stock, you can read the detailed analysis here.
ALAB does carry concentration risk, though, with just 4 customers accounting for more than 80% of its Q2 revenue. Such a risk is something investors have to take while trying to cash in on those growth numbers. The market is closely watching the capex figures of hyperscalers, and Astera Labs investors would want to take notice if the spending slows down.
5. Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)
Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) operates as a developer of custom AI accelerators and networking chips. Major cloud providers and AI labs rely on its products to build their compute infrastructure. The company has grown its EPS by 71.91% this year and is estimated to grow 65.31% next year. It delivered a strong fiscal third quarter, with revenue rising 86% to $29.6 billion. AI semiconductor revenue more than tripled to $16.7 billion.
For the fourth quarter, management guided for revenue growth of about 93%. AI semiconductors are expected to deliver exceptional growth again, generating $21.7 billion in revenue. This would mark a 236% year-over-year increase. This momentum raises the question of why Broadcom’s AI revenue is tripling despite the stock’s weaker performance.
The company’s exposure to a concentrated customer base and changing trade rules remain key challenges. In the third quarter, one customer made up 50% of total revenue. The top five end customers accounted for approximately 55% of revenue. Broadcom says tariffs, including semiconductor-related tariffs, have not materially affected its business yet. They could still increase costs and interrupt its supply chain.
4. Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)
Despite its $5.49 trillion market cap, Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) is still expanding quickly. The company has increased its earnings by 94.51% this year and is targeting another 69.99% growth next year. For the fiscal second quarter ended July 26, revenue jumped 106% to $96.2 billion. Data center revenue came in at $89 billion, rising 117%.
Going forward, it forecasts third-quarter revenue of $108 billion with a possible variation of 2%. Management says demand remains strong, pointing to “multiple frontier labs scaling in parallel.” Nvidia has also increased its supply commitments to meet that demand. Those commitments climbed from $119 billion previously to $279 billion. This sharp increase points to strong demand ahead. But investors are asking why the stock’s forward P/E is below its five-year average. A more bullish take comes from Dan Ives, who argues investors are overlooking a $4 trillion AI spending wave.
Nvidia faces ongoing risks from customer concentration, China export restrictions, and uncertainty over future rules. One direct customer accounts for 16% of the company’s second-quarter revenue.
3. Marvell Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MRVL)
Marvell Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MRVL) makes custom AI chips and connectivity technology for cloud data centers. Analysts project earnings to grow by 72.79% next year. Its fiscal second quarter ended on August 1. In the second quarter, the company reported record revenue of $2.739 billion, up 73% from a year earlier. Growth in the Data Center segment accelerated to 46%. Marvell guided for third-quarter revenue of $3.150 billion, with a possible variation of 5%.
Management expects growth to accelerate further. CEO Matt Murphy called AI-related bookings “exceptionally robust.” He also expects the Custom business to accelerate in the second half of fiscal 2027. The company increased its fiscal 2028 revenue outlook from $18 billion to around $20 billion. Moreover, it set a fiscal 2031 revenue target of $70 billion to $90 billion. These projections suggest management’s confidence in its business. However, supply chain delays do not necessarily affect every supplier equally. For example, the reported delay in Google’s next TPU may have only a limited and indirect effect on Marvell.
2. Celestica Inc. (NYSE:CLS)
Celestica Inc. (NYSE:CLS) offers switches, servers, and integrated systems that AI labs and hyperscalers need to support their data center operations. The company reported its third-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings on October 26. So far this year, the company grew its earnings by 84.93% and expects another 75.59% increase next year. Revenue for the quarter surged 83% to $5.83 billion. Adjusted EPS more than doubled to $3.30. Revenue and EPS both came in above the high end of guidance. Strong quarter prompted Celestica to raise its full-year 2026 revenue and adjusted EPS guidance. The company now expects $21 billion in 2026 revenue and $11.55 in adjusted EPS.
Looking further ahead, it also issued its first 2027 forecast. The company is targeting $40 billion in revenue, which will represent an impressive 90% growth. Adjusted EPS is estimated at $21.50. Management highlighted that customer demand forecasts for 2028 are meaningfully higher. The company is already seeing signs of demand extending into 2028. However, a key question is whether Celestica’s shift from contract manufacturing toward AI system design can make that growth more durable.
1. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD)
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) takes the top spot on my list with the strongest projected earnings growth. The company has reported EPS growth of 83.21% this year and is expected to grow by another 109.94% next year. Meanwhile, our database shows that 164 hedge funds own shares. In the second quarter, revenue rose 50% to a record $11.5 billion. The Data Center segment was a key growth driver, with revenue more than doubling to $6.7 billion.
On the earnings front, GAAP diluted EPS jumped 156% to $1.38, while non-GAAP EPS climbed even more to $1.66. However, the year-over-year comparisons benefited from the same period last year’s $800 million in inventory and related charges linked to US export controls on AMD’s MI308 GPU. For the third quarter, management forecasts revenue of about $13 billion. Heading into the third quarter, it caught the attention of GF Securities analyst Jeff Pu. The analyst raised his price target on the shares to $720
CEO Lisa Su said the company’s Helios rack is starting to ramp up, and it struck a partnership with Anthropic for up to 2 gigawatts of MI450 GPUs. The challenge may now be meeting demand, rather than finding customers, as I discussed earlier; AMD’s biggest constraint is now chip supply, not demand.
While we acknowledge the potential of AMD to grow, we believe certain AI infrastructure stocks offer far stronger long-term potential at a much more attractive entry point. If you are looking for an AI stock more promising than AMD that operates as a critical AI tollbooth and stands as the most important company in the world, check out our report about this must-own AI stock.
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