2 AI Stocks Make Excellent Long-Term Plays to Buy in January

Real wealth building is a long-term endeavor. While Wall Street loves to gloss over the next quarterly earnings, savvy investors identify and pursue trends that could persist for years. And few opportunities are as captivating as artificial intelligence (AI).

Make no mistake, AI isn't a fleeting trend or a buzzword. Instead, it’s a foundational technology reshaping how businesses operate, compete, and grow. This technology has the potential to revolutionize every industry, enhance productivity, and introduce an array of new products over the next few decades. However, what will continue enabling this revolution on a massive scale will be AI chips, large-language models (LLMs), self-driving vehicles, AI agents, and humanoid robots, and businesses specializing in such products and services will dominate in the years ahead.

While investors can choose from many AI stocks, standout companies offer the rare combination of durable competitive advantages, expanding markets, and extended growth runways. Here are two picks that have delighted investors for several years, but their rallies aren't over quite yet.

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Nvidia is still the AI chip leader

Investors shouldn't expect Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) to repeat the 1,200% gain it logged over the past five years. However, its rising revenue and margins suggest that it should continue to outpace the stock market.

Nvidia's third-quarter revenue surged by 62% year over year as big tech companies can't get enough of Nvidia's chips. These same companies intend to spend more on AI in 2026 than they did last year, further fueling demand for Nvidia's chips. Net income jumped by 65%, indicating that the chipmaker can continue to expand margins while gaining market share.

What truly drives Nvidia's top-line growth and profit margins is that no competitor comes close to offering the capabilities of its graphics processing units (GPUs) and proprietary platform software ecosystem.

Nvidia is one of the easiest ways to play the AI boom. It's regularly in the spotlight and has become the No. 1 chipmaker by a wide margin. Nvidia is doing it all with net profit margins above 55%, showing that it keeps a large percentage of the money that it makes.

Alphabet is tapping into multiple AI opportunities

Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) uses AI to enhance its search results and online ad placements. This technology has contributed to rising revenue for the company's advertising segment, which is critical for its long-term growth. However, the Google search engine isn't the most exciting thing about Alphabet anymore.

Google Gemini, Waymo, and Google Cloud are all more exciting. Gemini is Google's AI model that comes with monthly subscription plans. The app has 650 million monthly active users.

Waymo doesn't make much revenue now, but it can revolutionize transportation with self-driving cars. That type of potential is impossible to ignore, and it has led Waymo to pursue a $100 billion valuation. As Waymo scales to more cities, it can become a valuable revenue engine for Alphabet.

Google Cloud is another significant opportunity. It acts as the digital bedrock for websites and AI apps, since companies need a place to store all of their data. Google Cloud also comes with a bunch of features and real-time analytics that help businesses grow.

While investors will have to wait and see with Gemini and Waymo, Google Cloud is already a key contributor. This part of Alphabet's business generated $15.2 billion in the third quarter of 2025, up 34% year over year. As Google Cloud takes a larger share of the pie, its overall revenue growth should accelerate.

Alphabet is using its own physical AI while letting other businesses tap into its cloud platform for their own apps. It has multiple ways to win in the AI era, and that's part of the reason Alphabet stock is up by more than 60% over the past year.

Marc Guberti has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.