It's unlikely that S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) stocks will match the US$2.5 trillion market cap of artificial intelligence (AI) chipmaker Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) anytime soon.
However, a select basket of ASX 200 stocks with strong exposure to the rapid growth of AI does look well-placed for potentially strong outperformance over the years ahead.
Indeed, AI-related transactions in Australia are heating up, as we saw with the recent acquisition of private data centre firm Blackstone.
"Markets went wild after last week's announcement that US investment management company Blackstone had agreed to acquire Australian data centre specialist AirTrunk for $24 billion," eToro market analyst Josh Gilbert said.
"The monumental agreement has injected fresh energy into Australia's tech and innovation space, particularly in data centres and AI, where AirTrunk has been investing a significant proportion of its attention," he added.
ASX 200 stocks with AI growth exposure
"Although Australia isn't well known for tech stocks, there are a few AI stocks in Australia that investors can look to," Gilbert said.
The ASX 200 stocks he named include data centre operator and developer NextDC Ltd (ASX: NXT), and network as a Service (NaaS) solutions provider Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1).
"NextDC is increasingly involved in supporting AI workloads and providing the high-performance infrastructure needed for AI applications as the technology revolution continues to boom," Gilbert said.
And NextDC is well-funded to meet the growing demand. Earlier this year, the company completed a $1.3 billion capital raising to accelerate the development and fit out of its core data centre assets in Sydney and Melbourne.
As for ASX 200 stock Megaport, Gilbert noted, "Megaport offers a platform that allows businesses to connect their IT infrastructure to various cloud service providers, data centres, and other networks around the world."
The businesses in question include global powerhouses like Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Google Cloud Platform, which is the domain of Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG).
And the runway for ASX 200 stocks with strong AI exposure looks lengthy.
"What's clear is that the demand for AI is not slowing down. There is a trillion-dollar opportunity for businesses across the globe," Gilbert said.
Gilbert concluded:
AI will drive companies' bottom lines through more efficient processes or increased spending on the technology. Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: META), Microsoft and Alphabet are all growing their capital expenditures and directing that capital to AI, therefore, the opportunity for businesses involved with AI remains high.
