Investing in AI stocks on the ASX is harder than it looks because our market lacks "no-brainer" stocks like Nvidia and Microsoft.
Our local Aussie index is dominated by banks, miners and supermarkets.
But that does not mean there are no opportunities. What it does mean is that we need to look at the plumbing and the applications driving AI rather than the AI chips themselves.
The Motley Fool has previously covered how to invest in artificial intelligence locally.
Here are three ASX companies I think give you strong exposure to the AI theme.
Image source: Getty Images
Why ASX AI stocks look different to Wall Street
Australia does not manufacture semiconductors.
What we do have is land, power and regulated demand for sovereign data storage, and that has turned the local artificial intelligence trade into an infrastructure trade first and a software trade second.
NextDC: the purest infrastructure play
NextDC Ltd (ASX: NXT) builds and operates the data centres that artificial intelligence workloads run inside.
The company's scale is now hard to ignore.
In an April update, contracted utilisation reached 667MW as at 31 March 2026, a 60% increase, while the forward order book jumped 83% to 544MW.
Contracted earnings from existing agreements now exceed $1 billion.
Chief executive Craig Scroggie did not undersell the shift:
The scale of this increase in contracted utilisation and the resulting uplift in the Company's pro forma Forward Order Book are unprecedented, underscoring the record levels of demand we continue to experience.
The catch is cost.
NextDC guided to FY26 capital expenditure of $2.7 billion to $3.0 billion with roughly $5 billion forecast for FY27, and it funded part of that through a $1.5 billion entitlement offer priced at $12.70 per share.
Investors are still debating whether the AI boom is only getting started for NextDC shares.
The company reports its FY26 result on 27 August.
Pro Medicus: one of the few profitable AI stocks
Pro Medicus Ltd (ASX: PME) sells medical imaging software to United States hospital networks.
Its FY26 result delivered revenue of $261.7 million, up 22.9%, while underlying net profit after tax rose 24.1% to $144.7 million.
The underlying earnings before interest and tax margin reached 74.9%.
Dividends climbed 25.5% to 69 cents per share fully franked, and the company signed 10 new contracts worth at least $407 million.
Chief executive Sam Hupert framed the AI opportunity in terms of access:
We are the gatekeeper for image-based AI to now 11% of the market in the U.S. and growing.
That gatekeeper position represents the premium the market pays for.
Shares jumped more than 10% on results day, although they remain down roughly 11% for the calendar year.
Macquarie Technology: the small-cap option
Macquarie Technology Group Ltd (ASX: MAQ) runs data centres, cloud and cybersecurity services for government and corporate customers.
The company is a fraction of NextDC's size, with a market capitalisation of roughly $1.6 billion.
The company delivered its 22nd consecutive half of EBITDA growth in the first half of FY26, with EBITDA of $57.9 million and full-year guidance of $114 million to $117 million.
Its IC3 Super West facility in Sydney is the real prize.
Phase one delivers 6MW, with a pathway to 19MW and an option over a Sydney campus site above 150MW.
Macquarie Technology also reports on 27 August.
The risks with ASX AI stocks
None of these businesses is cheap.
Pro Medicus trades on a price-to-earnings ratio near 88, which leaves no margin at all for a missed contract or a slower implementation schedule.
NextDC has never reported a statutory profit, and its capital intensity means further raisings are possible.
Macquarie Technology is small, thinly traded and spending heavily ahead of revenue.
Buying AI stocks means accepting that the market has already priced in a great deal of future growth.
Foolish takeaway
I would not put an entire portfolio into this single theme.
But a modest allocation across infrastructure and applications gives you two very different ways to win, because the companies building the capacity and the companies monetising it rarely peak at the same moment.
NextDC and Macquarie Technology sell the shovels.
Pro Medicus sells the software that makes the data useful.
For investors who want exposure to AI stocks without leaving the ASX, that is where I would start.
