The artificial intelligence (AI) era is only beginning, so younger generations, such as millennials and Gen Z, will see technology profoundly impact the world around them over the coming decades. These younger investors' real-world experiences could position them for remarkable long-term investment opportunities.
According to a study by The Motley Fool, Gen Z and millennial investors already favor technology stocks. This is undoubtedly a result of their growing up with the rise of the digital age, smartphones, social media, and other technologies.
Because of these investors' tech-savviness and long time horizons, these three AI stocks are no-brainers to buy and hold for the next few decades. Their early leadership in AI could translate to substantial investment returns, perhaps even millions of dollars, by the time they retire.
1. This AI chip leader is innovating at lightning speed
Nvidia (NVDA +5.56%) grew into one of the world's largest companies on its artificial intelligence (AI) chip dominance. It started with the company's Hopper AI accelerator architecture and seems poised to continue with Blackwell. That makes Nvidia arguably the most important AI company today. Its chips are crucial to generating the immense computing power AI models need to process vast amounts of data quickly.
NASDAQ: NVDA
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While its competitors strive to compete on data center AI chips, Nvidia's long-term appeal goes beyond its current offerings and focuses on innovation within the company. CEO Jensen Huang recently spoke at CES 2025 and announced developments in products and services, including Blackwell-powered graphics processing chips (GPUs) for gaming, open-source AI models for robotics and self-driving vehicle technology, and a desktop supercomputer capable of running small-scale AI models.
AI is primarily a complement to cloud computing today. However, AI may someday exist at the household level among consumers, and Nvidia's vision for the future could pay off. The company's deep pockets, market leadership, and pace of innovation arguably make it the favorite to create or lead these new markets as they eventually arise.
2. AI software is coming, and this company is leading the way
Over the past 18 months, Palantir Technologies (PLTR +6.30%) has become a leader in AI software. The company's roots are in data analytics software, going back years to its government ties (which still exist today). However, Palantir leaped forward when it launched its Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) in April 2023. The platform enables enterprises to develop and deploy AI applications, a tremendous value because most companies lack the resources and expertise to build their own AI software from scratch.
NASDAQ: PLTR
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Palantir's growth accelerated over the past year, and a massive addressable market is ahead of it. Palantir still has only 498 commercial customers. In the United States alone, there are 20,000 large businesses (companies with over 500 employees). Its technology is flexible and usable for any data-heavy application, with use cases ranging from military operations to optimizing supply chains and running hospitals.
The enterprise opportunity is enormous, and Palantir could someday even move down the market, making AI applications for increasingly smaller organizations as costs come down. The biggest knock on Palantir stock has been its egregiously expensive valuation, but long-term investors can look for an entry point on pullbacks.
3. A blue-chip technology conglomerate with multiple growth catalysts
Alphabet (GOOG +4.95%) (GOOGL +5.14%) built an empire on its Google search engine business. While that's still the company's golden goose today, there's far more to Alphabet. The company has operations in quantum computing, video streaming, autonomous vehicles, smartphones, and more. That's important for young investors because some of these segments, especially quantum computing and vehicle autonomy, could mature into massive assets in the future.
NASDAQ: GOOGL
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AI could be the key to that, and Alphabet is one of the only companies already equipped to be an AI powerhouse. It has a cloud computing platform (Google Cloud), AI models (Gemini), and years of first-party data across the Google ecosystem. Alphabet has already begun integrating AI throughout its existing businesses, but again, the real opportunity is in the businesses Alphabet could develop over the next decade or two.
Alphabet has the deep pockets and culture to continue pushing innovation, which means it has a good shot at factoring into future breakthrough technologies and the resulting market opportunities. Owning Alphabet is like a bet on AI innovation as a whole, like betting on the house. It could reward you in multiple ways, from continued growth to eventually spinning off emerging businesses to create additional value for shareholders over the long haul.
