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Five large companies offer different ways to gain exposure to AI: NVIDIA and Broadcom sell AI-related chips and networking; Microsoft and Amazon sell cloud capacity and services; Alphabet combines cloud, models and AI features across products. Their reported growth makes them candidates for further research, not automatic buys. As of October 11, 2026, the figures available here do not establish current share prices or comparable valuations, so they cannot show whether any stock is attractively priced before year-end.
How the five companies compare
The figures below come from companies’ own earnings releases and cover different fiscal calendars and measures. Quarterly revenue, annual revenue run rates and management forecasts are not interchangeable, and fast-growing AI revenue does not by itself establish an attractive stock return.
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| Company | AI-related business exposure | Latest evidence available | How to interpret it |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) | AI compute and data-center platforms | Fiscal Q2 2027 revenue of $96.2 billion, up 106% year over year; Data Center revenue of $89.0 billion, up 117%. | Data Center is the largest reported AI-related revenue signal here; these are company-reported results, not a valuation measure. |
| Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) | Azure cloud services and AI-enabled software | Fiscal Q4 2026 revenue of $90.0 billion, up 18% year over year; Azure annual revenue exceeded $100 billion in the fiscal year. | Cloud scale and paid Copilot seats indicate adoption, but do not isolate the incremental profit attributable to AI. |
| Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO) | Custom AI accelerators and networking, alongside infrastructure software | Fiscal Q3 2026 AI semiconductor revenue of $16.7 billion, up 221% year over year and 54% quarter over quarter. | Its overall business is broader than AI chips; the Q4 figure discussed below is guidance, not a result. |
| Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) | AWS cloud infrastructure, AI services and chips | Q2 2026 AWS net sales grew 37% year over year; the AWS AI business exceeded a $25 billion annual revenue run rate. | A run rate is not the same as recognized quarterly revenue; infrastructure growth also comes with substantial investment needs. |
| Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL/GOOG) | Google Cloud, AI models and AI features across products | The available evidence is from a Q2 2025 investor transcript, not a current 2026 results release. | Historical figures are not sufficient to assess its current growth, spending or valuation alongside the other four. |
Sources for the company figures: NVIDIA’s August 26, 2026 fiscal Q2 2027 release; Microsoft’s July 29, 2026 fiscal Q4 2026 release; Broadcom’s September 2, 2026 fiscal Q3 2026 release; Amazon’s July 30, 2026 Q2 2026 release; and Alphabet’s Q2 2025 earnings-call transcript. The periods and definitions differ, so the table is a business-model overview, not a like-for-like performance ranking.
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What each stock’s AI exposure means
NVIDIA: selling the compute platform
NVIDIA’s fiscal Q2 2027 results show how strongly its reported business is tied to data-center demand: total revenue was $96.2 billion, up 106% year over year, while Data Center revenue reached $89.0 billion, up 117%. Those results make the company a direct way to examine demand for AI compute and data-center platforms, but they do not say what investors are paying for that growth or how much future growth is already reflected in the share price.
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CEO Jensen Huang said, “AI has reached its inflection point. It’s doing useful work. Its tokens are productive and profitable. Now, compute is revenue.” That is management’s assessment, not independent confirmation that AI customers generally are earning a profit from their deployments. For an investor, a key question is whether customers’ spending on compute can continue and translate into durable returns across the supply chain.
Microsoft: cloud capacity and software distribution
Microsoft reported fiscal Q4 2026 revenue of $90.0 billion, up 18% year over year. CEO Satya Nadella said Azure revenue surpassed $100 billion for the fiscal year and Microsoft 365 Copilot exceeded 30 million paid seats. These company-reported milestones point to scale in cloud services and adoption of a paid AI feature within widely used software.
Paid seats are evidence of subscription uptake, not a disclosed measure of how much additional profit Copilot generated. Microsoft’s release also describes investment-related effects on reported earnings and presents non-GAAP information alongside GAAP results. Keep those accounting measures distinct rather than treating one headline earnings figure as a clean measure of AI profitability.
Broadcom: custom chips and networking
Broadcom reported fiscal Q3 2026 AI semiconductor revenue of $16.7 billion, a 221% year-over-year increase and a 54% increase from the prior quarter. CEO Hock Tan said, “Demand for our custom AI accelerators and networking continues to be very strong.” The business exposure is different from NVIDIA’s: Broadcom’s AI-related segment includes custom accelerators and networking, while its consolidated business also includes infrastructure software and other revenue.
Broadcom forecast fiscal Q4 AI semiconductor revenue of $21.7 billion, up 236% year over year. This is management guidance, not realized revenue; the company cautioned that actual results may vary materially. Its reported Q3 consolidated revenue was $29.6 billion, up 86%, a broader figure that should not be confused with AI semiconductor revenue.
Amazon: AWS growth with a cash-flow trade-off
Amazon reported that AWS net sales grew 37% year over year in Q2 2026. The company said its AWS AI business exceeded a $25 billion annual revenue run rate and was growing at triple-digit percentages year over year. CEO Andy Jassy described AWS growth as 36.7% year over year, its fastest in 18 quarters, and said Amazon’s AI and chips businesses each exceeded run rates of more than $25 billion. These are company characterizations and run-rate measures, not a forecast of future reported revenue.
Growth has required heavy investment. Amazon reported a $7.6 billion trailing-twelve-month free-cash-flow outflow, driven primarily by increased property and equipment purchases reflecting AI investment. That is a concrete reminder that adding data-center capacity can consume cash even while cloud sales are growing quickly; investors need to weigh the spending against future utilization and returns.
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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsAlphabet: a candidate whose available evidence is dated
Alphabet has plausible AI exposure through Google Cloud, AI models and features integrated into its products. The available figures here, however, come from a Q2 2025 investor transcript. That historical account described Google Cloud annual revenue run rate above $50 billion, a $106 billion Cloud backlog and an expectation of approximately $85 billion in 2025 capital expenditure. These are historical company statements, not current 2026 figures.
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Those numbers should not be treated as current operating evidence or as a sufficient basis for an October 2026 investment case. Before comparing Alphabet with the other candidates, check its latest official earnings release for current Cloud growth, investment spending and cash generation, then evaluate the shares at a current price.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What these results do—and do not—tell you
Growth is not the same as stock value
A rapidly expanding business can still be a poor purchase at a price that assumes even faster growth or unusually high future margins. The company results above do not include synchronized publication-date share prices or valuation multiples such as price-to-earnings, price-to-sales or price-to-free-cash-flow. Without those measures and a defined investment horizon, there is no evidence here to rank the five by expected return or conclude that any is a buy now.
AI revenue has different meanings across companies
NVIDIA’s Data Center revenue, Broadcom’s AI semiconductor revenue, AWS sales growth, an AI business’s annual revenue run rate, and Microsoft’s paid Copilot seats measure different things. A run rate extrapolates from a current pace; it is not a guarantee of that amount being recognized over the next year. A paid seat signals a subscription, not the profit attributable to that feature. Don’t treat the table as a common AI-sales league table.
Investment and execution can change the outcome
Building and operating infrastructure can require significant spending, as Amazon’s disclosed cash-flow outflow illustrates. Microsoft also noted investment-related effects on reported earnings. For each company, examine whether capital spending, product demand and customer adoption are producing sustainable cash generation—not just revenue growth. The figures provided do not give a full, comparable account of customer concentration or returns on AI investment across all five businesses.
Quick Recap
A practical way to assess a stock before buying
- Set the time horizon. “Before the end of 2026” is a deadline, not an investment thesis. Decide whether the money is intended for a short-term trade or a longer-term holding; a short horizon can make valuation changes and volatility especially consequential.
- Check the latest results. Compare current revenue growth with cash generation, capital spending and management outlook. Use each company’s official release and keep fiscal periods, GAAP results, non-GAAP measures and guidance clearly labeled.
- Establish a current valuation. Use a current share price and a consistently defined measure, such as forward earnings or free cash flow. Compare companies only when the periods and accounting definitions align; the figures in this article do not supply those valuations.
- Test the business case. Ask what must go right for AI demand to support future revenue and profit, and what could weaken that case: slower customer spending, weaker adoption, or investment that fails to earn an adequate return. Treat executive forecasts and enthusiasm as statements to assess, not guarantees.
- Consider portfolio fit. A five-stock shortlist does not account for your goals, existing holdings, diversification or ability to withstand losses. Avoid making a concentrated investment solely because several companies are connected to the same broad AI theme.
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