The Best Stocks to Invest $1,000 in Right Now for 2026 and Beyond

Nvidia remains the leader of AI infrastructure.

Alphabet is one of the best-positioned companies for the future of AI.

TSMC is set to benefit from increasing AI chip demand.

10 stocks we like better than Nvidia ›

You don’t need a lot of money to start investing. With $1,000, you can start dipping your toe into the stock market and buy some great tech stocks.

Let’s look at three stocks to buy right now for 2026 and beyond.

Image source: Getty Images.

Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) remains one of the best ways to play the current artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure boom. The company’s graphics processing units (GPUs) have become the primary chips used for powering AI workloads, given their ultra-fast processing speeds. The company’s CUDA software platform has helped create a wide moat, given that most foundational AI code has been written on its platform and optimized for its chips. This has helped the company command a more than 90% market share in the GPU data center space.

As spending on AI infrastructure continues to ramp up, Nvidia is well-positioned to continue reaping the benefits from higher GPU sales. The company has seen explosive growth, with its revenue soaring 62% last quarter and up more than threefold over the past two years. The company recently received approval from the U.S. government to begin selling certain chips to China, which adds another potential growth driver.

Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOG) is laying the foundation to be one of the biggest winners in AI. The company has the most complete AI tech stack of any company, highlighted by its world-class Gemini large language model (LLM) and well-regarded custom AI chips, called Tensor Processing Units (TPUs). Controlling the entire AI tech stack gives Alphabet a structural cost advantage and allows it to capture more AI revenue streams that it can then incorporate through its entire business. This creates a powerful virtuous cycle, as it can then pump this revenue and cost savings into making its products even better.

Its cloud computing business is currently seeing both robust revenue growth and strong operating leverage. Last quarter, Google Cloud revenue jumped 34%, while the segment’s operating income surged 85%. Meanwhile, Google Search revenue has begun to accelerate, powered by new AI features such as AI Overviews, AI Mode, Lens, and Circle to Search. As AI chatbots and search meld more into discovery, Alphabet has a big advantage by being the default search engine on most phones and computers through its ownership of the Chrome browser, Android smartphone operating system, and a search revenue-sharing deal with Apple.

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As more and more chips are needed for AI infrastructure, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE: TSM) is another company set to prosper. It is the largest semiconductor contract manufacturer in the world, and the company that makes most of the world’s advanced chips.

For companies like Nvidia and Alphabet to continue to advance their AI chips, they need node sizes (transistor density) to shrink. The reason is that this leads to more powerful chips that are more energy efficient. TSMC is the only chip manufacturer that has shown the ability to consistently produce chips at small node sizes in mass quantities at high yields (few defects). This has made it an invaluable part of the semiconductor supply chain and an important partner for chip designers.

TSMC is working with all the top AI chipmakers on their chip roadmaps, as it builds out capacity to meet their needs. It sees AI chip demand growing at a mid-40% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the next few years. Its position has also given it strong pricing power, and it is expected to raise prices on its services once again in 2026.

Between growing chip demand and strong pricing power, TSMC is a top stock to own right now.

Before you buy stock in Nvidia, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Nvidia wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $513,353!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,072,908!*

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*Stock Advisor returns as of December 8, 2025

Geoffrey Seiler has positions in Alphabet. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Apple, Nvidia, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

The Best Stocks to Invest $1,000 in Right Now for 2026 and Beyond was originally published by The Motley Fool

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