Nervous About AI Spending? Buy the Stocks of These 3 Tech Giants.

Key Points

• Nvidia has driven massive growth despite spending little on capital expenditures.

• Despite challenges, Microsoft’s AI continues to deliver robust growth.

• Meta’s existing businesses continue to grow rapidly and have helped to foster its AI transformation.

• 10 stocks we like better than Nvidia ›

The sheer amount of capital expenditures (capex) spending on artificial intelligence (AI) has made investors nervous. So high is the spending that cash-rich companies such as Amazon will spend $200 billion in capex this year alone and have issued bonds to help cover the costs.

Understandably, this makes investors nervous, as a poorly conceived AI strategy could cost even the most stable tech companies massive amounts of cash. Fortunately, three megatech companies continue to stand out as being less risky, meaning the tech stocks can likely prosper in nearly any circumstance.

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Nvidia

As the leading designer of AI accelerators, Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) continues to stand out. Companies wanting to build AI infrastructure most often turn to this company, and despite its massive size, it continues to grow at a rapid rate.

In this case, it is one of the few major tech companies not spending heavily on capex. In the first quarter of fiscal 2027 (ended April 26), it spent just over $1.75 billion in capex and about $6 billion in the previous fiscal year, a tiny fraction of what Amazon spends.

Amid that effort, it reported an 85% increase in revenue from year-ago levels. Also, the 65% increase in fiscal 2026 shows this growth is not a one-time event.

Admittedly, its $4.7 trillion market cap may deter some investors, knowing that it is likely no longer a millionaire maker at this stage of its development.

Still, its growth has left it with around $80 billion in liquidity, giving Nvidia one of the market’s more stable balance sheets. Also, its price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is 30, and the company’s revenue growth may keep that earnings multiple from falling considerably further. This makes it less likely that any worst-case scenario is going to undermine Nvidia stock.

Microsoft

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has been this year’s worst performer in the “Magnificent Seven,” falling by more than 20% in 2026. Its $80 billion in capex for the first nine months of fiscal 2026 (ended March 31) is not quite at Amazon’s level, but it has caused concerns given the performance of its AI assistant Copilot relative to competing products.

Also, while Microsoft has attempted to restructure lower-performing business units such as Xbox, investors are unlikely to react, as the largest tech names tend to trade on AI-related accomplishments in today’s market.

However, despite the negative sentiment, Microsoft’s numbers show it is holding its own in the AI industry. Overall revenue growth was 18% for the first three quarters of fiscal 2026, and this includes a 27% increase for Microsoft Cloud, which makes up the majority of the company’s revenue.

Also, the falling stock price has made its valuation more attractive. Its P/E ratio of 23 has just begun to come off multiyear lows.

Considering its revenue growth, particularly on the cloud side of the business, Microsoft stock appears cheap, pricing in the possible negative sentiment that could come from an AI downturn. Additionally, should Microsoft close some of its competitive gap in AI, the current valuation could set the stock up for a dramatic recovery.

Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) is another big spender as it seeks to prove itself in the AI realm. It pledged to spend between $125 billion and $145 billion in capex this year to become a more AI-oriented company.

That move is arguably necessary as the company boasts 3.56 billion daily active users for its family of apps. This amounts to a large percentage of the world’s population, meaning user growth has slowed dramatically. Fortunately, it also holds massive amounts of data not held by its peers, meaning it could build a competitive advantage by using that data to train AI models.

Moreover, the company is making this move while advertising makes up nearly 98% of its revenue, buying it time for a transition. Also, revenue grew at 33% in Q1 and 22% in 2025, meaning it still drives considerable growth from its current business model.

Despite that rapid growth, its P/E ratio is only around 22, indicating it has not yet convinced investors that this transformation will succeed. However, with its current level of revenue growth, that earnings multiple should limit the downside in the stock, positioning the company to weather downturns and earn higher returns as its AI strategy gains more traction.

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Will Healy has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.