No single stock you own is likely to meaningfully help you become a millionaire, but there are some rare exceptions. Among these exceptions, the odds are good that they reside in the tech sector. Technology is ultimately behind most of the world's greatest advancements, after all. That's why technology stocks have outperformed the market on average for three decades now and will likely continue to do so for decades to come.
Here's a closer look at three underestimated and overlooked technology stocks, each of which has the potential to help make you a millionaire. You just need to allocate enough capital to them now, and then be willing to let time do its thing.
1. Qualcomm
If you own a desktop or laptop computer, it's most likely built around an Intel-made processor. And if you're a user of any artificial intelligence (AI) platform -- even if you don't know it -- Nvidia's tech is probably at the heart of the system. And if you rely on any wireless connectivity tech ... well, it's probably made by Qualcomm (QCOM +1.07%).
Smartphones, Wi-Fi chips, Bluetooth headsets, home security systems, in-car connectivity, and wearables are all in Qualcomm's repertoire. Without Qualcomm, the consumer-tech world would look considerably different.
Perhaps most important to would-be investors right now, Qualcomm is focused on the technology market's biggest and best opportunity at this time: artificial intelligence (and mobile AI tech in particular). The company's Snapdragon mobile processor is powerful enough to turn a smartphone into a device capable of handling generative AI duties rather than offloading them to the cloud (as most generative AI work is still done at this time). Although this tech is still young, meaningful commercialization of it is on the horizon.
NASDAQ: QCOM
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This small firecracker of the technology arena is expected to explode over the next several years. Market research firm Global Market Insights believes the mobile AI market is set to grow at an annualized pace of 25.5% through 2032, syncing with outlooks from Spherical Insights and Mordor Intelligence. That's nearly a 20-fold increase in the size of a market that Qualcomm already dominates, meaning the company's likely to capture more than its fair share of this growth between now and the end of that eight-year stretch. This business's growth, however, certainly isn't going to come to a screeching halt then.
Granted, most of this progress will take shape later rather than sooner. Analysts believe Qualcomm's top-line is only set to improve a respectable-but-modest 7% this year before accelerating to an also-respectable-but-modest pace of just over 10% next year. Earnings are expected to improve at only a slightly faster clip during this two-year stretch as well.
Given the AI-driven demand for wireless technology that's already becoming evident, however, Qualcomm stock could still readily start reflecting its strength on this front sooner rather than later.
2. ASML
Netherlands-based ASML (ASML 4.79%) is similar to Qualcomm in the sense that you're benefiting from its tech without even realizing it. It's taking a completely different tack, however, toward becoming indispensable. See, ASML makes equipment that helps chipmakers manufacture their own processors and circuit boards.
It's called lithography, or in ASML's case, extreme ultraviolet (or EUV) lithography. This is the science of using light to "spray" a pattern of conductive material onto a substrate that eventually becomes a computer chip. This process is more cost-effective than alternative approaches, and it also allows for higher-performance semiconductor chips due to the tech's light-based ability to make the smallest of hardware.
And it's big business to be sure.
See, these chip-manufacturing systems can sell for a few hundred-million dollars each. That's the chief reason shares are up on the order of 1,000% in just the past 10 years, and higher to the tune of 6,000% for the past 20. It's already made several millionaires out of investors with the foresight to recognize the importance of this chipmaking tech and ASML's dominance of the market. It's got no real rivals on this front.
NASDAQ: ASML
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More of the same is likely in the cards too. The increasing use of technology (like generative-AI-capable smartphones) means demand for more and better semiconductor foundry solutions isn't just still growing, but accelerating. Mordor Intelligence says the EUV lithography market is set to grow at an average annual pace of more than 11% through 2029; Data Bridge Market Research pegs the number at 20%. Even the lower of the two is still extremely bullish for ASML though, in light of its leading market share and patent portfolio.
Sure, the company seems to be a recurring victim of intellectual property theft and unlicensed usage of its know-how. That's arguably the top risk to ASML investors, in fact.
It's still not a major risk, though. Would-be competitors generally can't steal enough of ASML's tech to truly threaten the company's dominance of the EUV lithography market. Ordinary patent infringement and enforcement can handle the rest.
3. IonQ
Last but certainly not least, add IonQ (IONQ +3.31%) to your list of technology stocks with the potential to help make you a millionaire.
NYSE: IONQ
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Simply put, IonQ offers a whole new kind of computing. In contrast with the device you're using right now (which still ultimately operates on the decades-old binary system that boils digital information down to a combination of ones and zeros), so-called quantum computers use atomic particles as the basis for computations. Not limited by an either/or dichotomy, quantum computing platforms can simultaneously handle millions of single-digit inputs. The end result? These systems operate tens of millions of times faster than ordinary computers.
That's the millionaire-making potential of this nascent technology, by the way. Whereas familiar artificial intelligence solutions are finally delivering on the years-long vision for modern-day computer architecture, quantum computing offers options that weren't even conceivable until very recently; the world still doesn't fully appreciate or even understand everything these tools could be capable of doing.
It is figuring them out quickly though. Research outfit SkyQuest suggests the global quantum computing market is set to grow at an annualized pace of almost 31% through 2031, making it eight times bigger then than it was last year.
IonQ's role in this evolution is simple enough -- it builds quantum computing systems, and then either sells them or rents time-based access to them. The company did $7.6 million worth of business during the first quarter of this year, up 77% year over year, and in line with the full year's as well as next year's growth forecast.
Granted, that's still not a lot. It's not like IonQ is the only tech company building quantum computing systems either. IonQ is arguably leading the way in terms of cost-effective performance, however, and at the same time offers the most accessible, user-friendly access to such platforms. Indeed, IonQ's CEO Peter Chapman believes widespread adoption of his company's tech is just a few years down the road specifically because of the strides it's made to become the industry's most marketable player. It's positioned to garner more than its fair share of the young industry's brewing growth.
