Got $3,000? 2 AI Stocks to Buy and Hold for the Long Term
The artificial intelligence (AI) boom is transforming the technology landscape and creating vast investment opportunities. As businesses and consumers increasingly embrace AI-powered solutions, certain companies are emerging as critical players driving the sector’s growth. Among these, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Alphabet (the parent company of Google) stand out for their leading roles in AI hardware and cloud software, respectively.
With robust financials, promising growth trajectories, and essential roles in the AI supply chain, TSMC and Alphabet are compelling investment options for those with a long-term outlook. Here’s why these stocks should be on your radar if you’re ready to commit $3,000 or more to the future of AI.
1. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC): The Engine Behind AI Innovation
Ticker: NYSE: TSM
As the world’s largest dedicated chip manufacturer, TSMC is integral to the AI revolution. The company partners with major technology outfits—including OpenAI, NVIDIA, Apple, and Alphabet’s Google—to fabricate the sophisticated semiconductors powering AI applications and data centers. This unique positioning has propelled TSMC’s market capitalization to roughly $1.2 trillion as of August 2025, marking its status as a global tech titan.
Recent Milestones and Growth:
- Revenue Acceleration: In the most recent quarter, TSMC’s revenues soared 44% year-over-year, buoyed by surging demand for advanced AI chipsets such as GPUs and custom AI accelerators.
- Industry Partnerships: Google’s latest Tensor G5 AI chip, central to AI experiences on Pixel devices, is being manufactured exclusively by TSMC. Meanwhile, OpenAI is poised to introduce its maiden custom AI chip, with mass production set for 2026—another project awarded to TSMC.
- Long-Term Guidance: TSMC expects its revenues from advanced AI chips to grow at an average annual rate exceeding 40% over the next five years, a pace outstripping most segments of the semiconductor industry.
TSMC’s financial resilience is underpinned by consistent profitability, resilient margins (gross margin at 57.27%), and prudent capital management. Despite economic cycles and temporary slowdowns, the business has grown revenues by an annualized 14% over the past decade, reflecting both the depth and durability of its competitive advantages.
Strategic Advantages
- Technological Leadership: TSMC continues to outpace competitors in advanced manufacturing, with process nodes as small as 3 nanometers in mass production and 2-nanometer nodes on the horizon.
- Global Supply Chains: With a vast client base that includes nearly every major global AI player, TSMC is uniquely positioned to capture growing worldwide demand for AI hardware.
- Reasonable Valuation: The stock currently trades at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of about 23, lower than many tech peers. This sets the stage for continued outperformance as investors seek steady, high-growth names in AI.
With capital expenditures expected to remain robust as technology leaders ramp up investment in AI data centers, TSMC faces a strong multi-year tailwind. As the AI supply chain becomes increasingly crucial to both consumer and enterprise applications—from autonomous vehicles to generative AI platforms—TSMC’s role as the world’s semiconductor foundry of choice cements its position as a foundational long-term holding.
2. Alphabet (Google): AI at Scale—Services, Cloud, and Beyond
Ticker: NASDAQ: GOOGL, GOOG
Alphabet is a technology powerhouse, generating $371 billion in trailing twelve-month revenue as of mid-2025. Its core businesses—Google Search, YouTube, and Google Cloud—have been rapidly integrating AI to enhance user experience, automate workflows, and optimize advertising. As a result, Alphabet combines the power of world-leading consumer platforms with a surging enterprise cloud business, both shaped by AI innovation.
Recent Performance Highlights:
- Advertising Resurgence: Google Search posted 12% year-over-year growth in ad revenue in Q2 2025, despite macroeconomic uncertainties, buoyed by AI-driven solutions that make search and shopping more relevant.
- Cloud Momentum: Google Cloud’s revenue surged by 32% year-over-year last quarter, lifting segment operating profits to $2.8 billion versus $1.2 billion in the prior year period.
- Client Adoption: Businesses are increasingly selecting Google Cloud’s AI infrastructure and software for deployments across industries such as healthcare, financial services, and logistics.
AI Investments Fueling Growth
- Massive Capital Expenditure: Alphabet announced plans to invest $85 billion in tech infrastructure in 2025 alone, primarily focused on expanding data center capacity and supporting AI and cloud workloads.
- User Reach: Over 2 billion users actively engage with at least seven Google products, providing an unmatched data and platform advantage to improve AI models.
- AI Product Innovations: From generative AI features in Google Search, to Gemini AI models and AI-powered assistants in Google Workspace, Alphabet is capitalizing on its proprietary technologies to deepen user engagement and competitive differentiation.
Despite these strengths, Alphabet’s shares still trade at a reasonable forward P/E of 20, well below some FAANG peers and tech upstarts chasing AI growth. Alphabet’s scale, data advantage, and continued cloud adoption set the stage for continued double-digit earnings growth—and robust stock appreciation—for years to come.
The Bigger Picture: Early Innings for AI Investment
The global race to deploy AI is still in its early stages, and the next decade promises rapid transformation across sectors ranging from healthcare and finance to manufacturing and entertainment. As foundational players, TSMC and Alphabet are likely to capture outsized shares of this value creation, thanks to their technological leadership, scale, and trusted relationships with their customers.
For investors with a multi-year horizon, owning the building blocks of the AI ecosystem—and the platforms that deliver these innovations at scale—is a strategy built for resilience in volatile markets and compounding growth through secular technology change.
Key Takeaway
If you’re thinking about investing $3,000 or more in AI, TSMC and Alphabet offer an attractive blend of high-growth potential, reasonable valuation, and blue-chip stability. Positioning your portfolio with these stocks could help capture the transformative impact of AI well into the future.

