When investors think of artificial intelligence, NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) tops the list.
But here’s a surprise: NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang believes that the global AI ecosystem is vertically stacked, in his own words — “a five-layer cake” — made up of energy, chips, cloud, AI models, and application.
Interested to learn more?
Here are five AI-related growth stocks that investors can gain exposure to each layer of the global AI ecosystem.
Layer 1: Energy — Constellation Energy (NASDAQ: CEG)
Constellation is the largest producer of reliable, clean energy in the US, primarily through its nuclear fleet, accounting for roughly two-thirds of its total energy output.
In 2025’s third quarter (3Q2025), operating revenues increased slightly by 0.31% year on year (YoY) to US$6.6 billion, while total adjusted non-GAAP operating earnings climbed 10.7% YoY due to a lower number of nuclear outage days.
For 9M2025, operating cash flow turned positive from an outflow of US$1.44 billion a year ago to US$3.4 billion due to favourable movements in non-cash items and working capital adjustments.
Constellation’s best-in-class nuclear fleet operates at an impressive 96.8% of its maximum power – best suited to serve the power-hungry AI data centres.
Crucially, the public and the US government are in favour of building new nuclear facilities, supporting Constellation’s expansion of its nuclear fleet.
The company has long-term target growth of 13% per year in operating earnings through 2030.
Layer 2: Chips — NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA)
From its beginnings as a graphics processing unit (GPU) provider for gaming to today’s GPU AI architecture, NVIDIA has come a long way.
Today, its GPU has morphed into a networking solution, making it the world’s largest networking business, powering generative AI models that are rapidly replacing classical machine learning.
In the three months ended 26 October 2025 (3QFY2026), revenue grew 62.5% YoY to US$57 billion, driving net income up by over 65% to nearly US$32 billion compared to a year ago.
Free cash flow for 3QFY2026 grew 31.5% YoY to US$22.1 billion.
From the initial rise of generative AI to the global transition towards “Agentic and Physical AI”, demand for NVIDIA’s latest bleeding-edge GPU architecture continues unabated.
With CUDA (compute unified device architecture) being the singular universal platform supporting virtually every current and emerging AI model, its moat is undeniable.
In short, the company is at the right place at the right time, creating a “winner takes all” scenario.
NVIDIA’s highly profitable, cash-rich, and proven growth runway, supported by the formidable network effect of CUDA, makes it the clear leader that dominates the chips layer.
Layer 3: Infrastructure — Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)
Microsoft’s Azure, with a global cloud market share of 20%, is second only to Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) 29% and ahead of Google Cloud Platform’s (GCP) 13%.
Within AI’s infrastructure layer, these cloud giants are akin to “digital landlords,” providing computational infrastructure services to host AI models.
In the three months ended 30 September 2025 (1QFY2026), Microsoft’s revenue and net income rose 18.4% YoY and 12.5% YoY to US$77.67 billion and US$27.75 billion, respectively, while operating cash flow surged nearly 32% YoY to US$45.1 billion, driven by cloud strength.
Microsoft integrates its AI stack deep into its enterprise ecosystem through Copilot and partners with OpenAI, driving demand for Azure, increasing its commercial bookings by more than 100%.
While Microsoft, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) collectively rule the AI infrastructural layer, Microsoft stands out with a consistently stronger operating margin compared to its peers.
For investors, it presents a better risk-reward profile than Amazon and Alphabet.
Layer 4: AI Models — Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL)
Alphabet adopts a proprietary full-stack approach to its AI model development, a crucial distinction that sets it apart from its peers.
In the three months ended 30 September 2025 (3Q2025), its revenue surged by nearly 16% YoY to US$102.3 billion, with net income rising almost 33% YoY to US$35 billion, due to operating gains and unrealised gains on non-marketable equity securities.
The search giant owns assets across multiple layers of the AI ecosystems:
- Custom chip designs (layer 2) of Tensor Processing Units (TPUs)
- Leading cloud infrastructure (layer 3) of GCP
- Gemini AI model (layer 4)
- Market-leading applications (layer 5), like YouTube, Maps, and Search (notably AI Overviews and AI Mode).
With its Gemini model supported by a vertically integrated stack, Alphabet’s AI ecosystem is uniquely self-reinforcing, allowing innovation and monetisation across multiple layers with unmatched efficiencies.
Layer 5: Applications — Salesforce (NYSE: CRM)
Salesforce is a global leader in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology with a 20.7% market share, according to IDC.
In the three months ended 31 October 2025 (3QFY2026), its revenue climbed 8.6% to US$10.3 billion.
Net earnings and free cash flow surged 36.6% and 22.3% YoY to US$2.1 billion and US$2.2 billion, respectively, driven by rising subscription and support businesses.
Data 360, MuleSoft and Informatica aggregate data across different enterprise functions and provide contextual insights that greatly enhance enterprise decision-making.
The company doubled down on its value proposition with the deployment of agentic AI through the Agentforce Platform one year ago, enabling autonomous decision-making that allows clients like the IRS to automate 98% of their manual activities.
Agentforce accounted for six out of 10 deals in the latest quarter, attesting to its unabated market momentum.
Salesforce stands out with its ability to train AI agents more efficiently with its unmatched scale of unified enterprise data that few competitors can rival, according to the firm.
What it Means for Investors
The 5-layer cake is a diversified portfolio strategy across multiple sectors:
- Constellation Energy: Eliminates power scarcity.
- NVIDIA: Its silicon hardware dominance is cemented by its software moat.
- Microsoft: Delivering cloud infrastructure with superior monetisation.
- Alphabet: Integrates chips, models, and consumer data into a proprietary vertical stack.
- Salesforce: Moving beyond automating CRM workflows to autonomous decision-making.
Such exposure captures value broadly across the whole AI ecosystem.
Get Smart: Turning Complexity into Opportunity
As AI develops at a neck-breaking pace, headlines can be overwhelming.
Breaking it down into five layers provides clarity on what matters and uncovers leaders who stand out amid the clutter.
The multi-trillion-dollar AI ecosystem buildout is expected to make winners out of the above-mentioned stocks.
For long-term investors, the potential returns could be breathtaking.
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Disclosure: Larry L. owns shares of Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, NVIDIA and Salesforce.
