What AI Sectors To Look Out For
Contributed Opinion

1. As of the date of this article, officers, contractors, shareholders, and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of Tesla Inc., Micron Technology Inc., and Apple Inc.
2. Chris Reilly: I, or members of my immediate household or family, own securities of: Microsoft and Taiwan Semiconductor. My company has a financial relationship with: None. My company has purchased stocks mentioned in this article for my management clients: None. I determined which companies would be included in this article based on my research and understanding of the sector.
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As Executive Editor at RiskHedge, I'm fortunate to have a prime vantage point into the insights of exceptional investors like Stephen McBride and Chris Wood.

For instance, precisely one year ago, in his Jolt newsletter, Stephen penned what turned out to be the call of the year.

He forecasted that two lesser-known memory stocks — Micron Technology Inc. (MU:NASDAQ) and SK Hynix (KRX:000660) — would emerge as "two of the best-performing stocks of 2025" as investors recognized that sustained advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) are contingent upon their technology.

The outcomes?

• Micron Closed 2025 as the #3 Best-Performing Stock in the S&P 500... Rising 240%
• SK Hynix Surged 275% on the Korea Exchange

Congratulations if you seized the opportunity.

So, what's Stephen's perspective for 2026?

On Our Recent, Private Quarterly Call for RiskHedge Reserve Members, Stephen Reminded Everyone of the Most Important Table in Investing

It illustrates the world's largest companies by decade since 1980.

As you can observe, every decade has a "dominant theme."

When you accurately identify the dominant theme and invest in it, you generate substantial wealth. It's that simple.

In the '80s, Japan reigned supreme. The internet dominated the '90s. In the 2000s, a rapidly expanding China consumed remarkable quantities of raw materials, propelling many commodity stocks to soar.

And in the 2010s, smartphones and fast, high-quality internet gave rise to Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN:NASDAQ), Alphabet Inc. Class A (GOOGL:NASDAQ), and Meta Platforms Inc. (META:NASDAQ).

Let's Examine the World's Top 10 Companies Right Now in January 2026...

They are:

1. Nvidia Corp. (NVDA:NASDAQ)
2. Alphabet
3. Apple Inc. (AAPL:NASDAQ)
4. Microsoft Corp. (MSFT:NASDAQ)
5. Amazon
6. Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM:NYSE)
7. Meta
8. Broadcom Inc. (AVGO:NASDAQ)
9. Saudi Aramco (TADAWUL: 2222)
10. Tesla Inc. (TSLA:NASDAQ)

We're midway through the decade, and eight of the top 10 are companies heavily involved in AI. The sole exceptions are Saudi Aramco and Apple (AAPL).

AI chip kingpin Nvidia (NVDA), which Stephen first recommended in 2018, holds the #1 spot.

Alphabet at #2 may be the overall AI frontrunner.

Microsoft (MSFT) at #4 owns 49% of ChatGPT creator OpenAI.

Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) at #6 manufactures approximately 90% of the world's most advanced computer chips. And so on.

Here's Stephen:

It's abundantly clear that the megatrend of this decade is AI.

I'm a strong proponent of keeping the main thing the main thing. And the main thing remains AI.

So, What AI Stocks Should You Buy Today?

In his recent Disruption Investor issue, Stephen identified four AI subsectors to focus on now:

1. Power

AI data centers represent the largest infrastructure buildout in modern history. In 2025 alone, big tech deployed more than $400 billion toward its production.

As these massive data centers come online, we need a way to power them. AI can't wait five years for grid approvals, so the winners are the companies that can deliver energy quickly — especially through on-site power solutions.

2. Cooling

Today's chips run significantly hotter than their predecessors. The fastest-growing slice of AI data-center spending is now directed toward cooling and ventilation. The industry is transitioning to liquid-based cooling, presenting a tremendous opportunity for investors.

3. Memory

This strategy proved effective in 2025, and it'll work again in 2026.

A typical AI server consumes 8X more memory than a classic computer. On Nvidia's Blackwell chips, 60% of the manufacturing cost is dedicated to memory alone.

Moreover, memory is a bottleneck. AI chips can remain idle up to 90% of the time, simply waiting for data.

4. Connectivity

Clusters of AI chips are no longer single-building warehouses. They're multi-campus factories that must operate as one synchronized brain.

The industry is standardizing around light-based interconnect and "coherent clustering" because copper wiring isn't fast enough.

So, What Do You Do?

If you've been following our guidance, you've invested in AI stocks since at least 2022.

First, stay invested in AI. It's the decade's dominant theme, with many more years to run.

Second, tilt your investments toward the AI subsectors primed to solve today's most urgent needs . . . power, cooling, memory, and connectivity.

The Jolt is where Stephen called the AI memory boom — well before Micron and SK Hynix took off. Make sure you're on our reading list so you don't miss the next big breakout. Here's how to join.