The launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT created a major buzz around artificial intelligence (AI) stocks.
ChatGPT is an AI chatbot software application that uses machine learning techniques to emulate human-written conversations. A hitherto niche subsector in the AI industry, this technology is called generative AI, and it’s been making an impact on myriad industries, including marketing, security, healthcare, gaming, communication, customer service and software development.
The potential behind generative AI has been the primary driver behind a major stock rally that has helped the S&P and Nasdaq indices reach multiple new highs since 2023.
According to Fortune Business Insights, the generative AI market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 39.6 percent between 2024 and 2032 to reach an impressive US$967.65 billion.
Although investors can’t directly take a position in privately owned OpenAI, several technology stocks offer exposure to the expected growth in generative AI technology.
Data was gathered using TradingView’s stock screener. All market cap and share price data was current as of September 2, 2025.
Biggest generative AI stocks to watch
These 10 tech giants offer investors exposure to generative AI by offering their own chatbots and generative AI products, developing the hardware and software necessary for AI and integrating AI into their product.
1. NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA)
Market cap: US$4.15 trillion
Current share price: US$170.74
Nvidia is a pioneer and global leader in graphics processing unit (GPU) technology. The company designs the specialized chips used to train AI and machine learning models.
While it has been well known in computer and gaming spaces for decades, Nvidia’s progress in the AI sector has been the biggest growth driver in recent years. The company currently holds the title of the world’s most valuable company, coming in ahead of rivals Microsoft, Apple and Alphabet.
Nvidia’s new Blackwell GPU architecture, now in full production, delivers a significant performance leap for AI workloads compared to its predecessor. A new Blackwell Ultra system is set to be released later in 2025.
Generative AI’s explosive growth is driving the market for chips designed by companies like Nvidia and Marvell Technology (NASDAQ:MRVL), as well as for memory chips from companies like Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU), which are another important component to training generative AI systems.
2. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Market cap: US$3.75 trillion
Current share price: US$505.12
The technology behemoth Microsoft has invested US$13 billion in OpenAI throughout the years, and the company’s current AI solutions, Bing AI and Copilot, are based on OpenAI’s technology. Microsoft has also partnered with Palantir to provide AI tools to US defense and intelligence agencies.
More recently, Microsoft’s AI branch, dubbed MAI, has branched out. In August 2025, Microsoft officially launched its first proprietary foundation model, MAI-1-preview, for its Copilot assistance, as well as a new speech model, MAI-Voice-1, designed for efficient, real-time audio processing.
3. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Market cap: US$3.41 trillion
Current share price: US$220.72
Apple has been incorporating its version of AI, Apple Intelligence, into its iPhones, MacBooks and Apple Watches. Its next major product reveal is scheduled for September 9, 2025.
The company’s main goal is to deliver AI capabilities while maintaining user privacy by prioritizing on-device processing. For more complex tasks, it uses Private Cloud Compute, a secure system that runs on Apple’s custom silicon chips and is designed to ensure data is not stored or made accessible to Apple.
Apple has partnered with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into its ecosystem. The upcoming iPhone 17 series is rumored to feature new AI-driven capabilities and enhanced integration of Apple Intelligence.
4. Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)
Market cap: US$2.56 trillion
Current share price: US$211.35
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, has played an important role in advancing generative AI technology. Its flagship AI model, Gemini, powers a wide range of services, with new versions continuously being rolled out. The company designs its own custom AI accelerator chips, like the TPU v5p, which are used to train large-scale language models and power its AI services.
Alphabet’s subsidiary, DeepMind, focuses on AI research and development. Its AI system AlphaFold won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2024 for its ability to predict the structure of proteins based on a protein’s unique amino acid sequence.
AI continues to be embedded across Google’s services as well. For example, AI Overviews displayed in Google Search results reach over two billion users per month as of mid-2025.
5. Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Market cap: US$2.40 trillion
Current share price: US$225.34
Amazon subsidiary and cloud-computing platform Amazon Web Services (AWS) evolved out of Amazon’s transition from an online retailer to one of the world’s largest technology companies. AWS’s wide range of services includes computing, storage, databases, networking, analytics, machine learning and AI.
AWS has many AI business tools on offer across four verticals: AI services, AI platforms, AI frameworks and AI infrastructure. Generative AI is nothing new to Amazon, as the technology forms the basis of conversational experiences with Amazon’s all-too-familiar Alexa.
Since its launch in 2023, Bedrock, a service that enhances software with generative AI capabilities, has expanded its catalog of foundation models to include OpenAI’s open-weight models and Anthropic’s Claude 4. At its AWS Summit in New York, the company announced Amazon Bedrock AgentCore, an innovation to help businesses rapidly deploy and scale AI agents with enterprise-grade security and tool integration.
6. Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)
Market cap: US$1.85 trillion
Current share price: US$735.11
Meta has expressed its commitment to continued research within the generative AI sphere with an open-source approach to its software developments. The giant behind Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp is one of the most influential companies in tech, sharing ranks with the likes of Microsoft and Alphabet.
Meta AI, which is built with Meta Llama 3, is integrated into Meta’s apps and also exists as a standalone website. The company’s products use machine learning to streamline Facebook ad campaign generation and help businesses reach the right consumers. This strategy has led to Meta’s ad business being a primary driver of revenue.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has maintained that increased spending on AI infrastructure is necessary to maintain its competitive position. The company has made massive infrastructure investments over the last year and has been aggressively hiring top-tier AI talent.
7. Oracle (NYSE:ORCL)
Market cap: US$632.83 billion
Current share price: US$225.30
Oracle is a tech company that’s been around since the 1970s. In the early 2000s, it began buying up other software companies, and today it is one of the leading providers of cloud-based database management software. Its primary AI service, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Generative AI, was released on January 23, 2024.
Oracle has positioned itself as a neutral platform, offering its customers a choice of top-tier models from various providers. It has recently expanded its offerings to include Google’s Gemini models and has also deployed OpenAI’s GPT-5 across its cloud applications and database portfolio.
Oracle maintains a long-standing partnership with Nvidia, leveraging its hardware for large-scale AI workloads. This collaboration has culminated in the company building a zettascale supercomputer using as many as 131,072 Nvidia Blackwell GPUs to tackle complex generative AI challenges.
8. Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR)
Market cap: US$372.67 billion
Current share price: US$157.29
Palantir’s generative AI strategy is centered on its Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP), a core product designed to help governments and commercial enterprises integrate AI into their operations with a focus on security and human-in-the-loop control.
Rather than building models for general use, Palantir’s approach is to provide a platform that enables customers to leverage large language models from various providers, like OpenAI and Google, within their own private, secure networks.
9. Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)
Market cap: US$252.86 billion
Current share price: US$241.73
Salesforce is a global leader in cloud-based customer relationship management software. In 2023, the company announced a strategy to embed generative AI across its entire product portfolio to transform how businesses interact with their customers.
In early 2025, Salesforce announced the retirement of its Einstein Copilot brand in favor of a new name, Agentforce, a fully autonomous AI agent that can handle complex, multi-step tasks across a company’s sales, service and marketing operations. The company has reported that AI agents are handling up to 50 percent of customer support conversations, which has led to a significant workforce restructuring.
10. Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO)
Market cap: US$268.49 billion
Current share price: US$67.80
Multinational digital communications firm Cisco Systems is a leader in IT and communications networks. Its strategy focuses on providing the hardware, software and security solutions enterprises need to build and deploy their own AI applications. The company has a large portfolio of multi-cloud products and applications, alongside strong relationships with Azure, AWS, Nvidia and Google Cloud.
Cisco’s AI and machine learning offerings encompass a wide range of computing solutions for enterprises, including a focus on cybersecurity. Cisco has also brought to market new generative AI tools for IT professionals, including its own AI Assistant.
In January, the company introduced Cisco AI Defense, an end-to-end solution that protects against the misuse of AI tools, data leakage and sophisticated threats beyond the capabilities of older security systems.
Generative AI stocks to watch
The following companies have not yet reached the market capitalization of our top 10, but are each worth billions of dollars and have made some amazing achievements in generative AI technology in their own right, making them interesting prospects for investors.
In alphabetical order, they are:
- C3.ai, a company providing software as a service products to the financial and oil and gas industries. Its partnership with Alphabet allows C3.ai generative AI applications to be available on Google Cloud.
- DynaTrace, a data-analysis company that provides real-time feedback on IT infrastructure for various companies using its generative AI assistant, Davis.
FAQs for generative AI
What is generative AI?
Generative AI is an emerging AI technology based on deep learning models and algorithms that can generate text, images or sounds in response to prompts given by users.
What are generative AI examples?
Some of the most notable examples of generative AI are ChatGPT, DALL-E 2, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, Gemini, Copilot and DeepSeek.
OpenAI’s DALL-E 2 is an AI system that can create realistic images and art from a description in natural language. Similar to DALL-E 2, Midjourney generates images from prompts. Stable Diffusion is a latent text-to-image diffusion model capable of generating photo-realistic images given any text input. Microsoft’s Copilot is a feature of the Bing search engine that leverages the same technology as ChatGPT.
What are the hottest generative AI startups?
According to technology and business magazine e-Week, in addition to ChatGPT creator OpenAI, some of the other leading generative AI startups include Hugging Face, Synthesis AI, Jasper and Cohere.
Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.