How AI is Shaping the Stock Market

Artificial intelligence is more than a technological evolution; it’s a market force reshaping a wide array of industries. While companies building AI systems and hardware are obvious beneficiaries, a much broader landscape of infrastructure providers and sector-specific adopters are riding the AI wave too.

In this post, we explore three layers of opportunity:

• The makers and tech behind the AI revolution

• The infrastructure enabling AI’s growth

• The industries using AI to accelerate innovation and performance

Each section includes real-world examples of publicly listed companies that have seen positive share price growth over the past 12 months (October 2024 – October 2025), along with commentary on recent changes, technical shifts, and outlooks. This represents just a handful of stocks and sectors worth exploring as part of you portfolio...(note: as always, figures are indicative and subject to change - links to Yahoo Finance charts provided for latest indicators)

1. The Makers and Tech Behind the AI Revolution

These are the companies designing AI models, building platforms, and producing the chips that fuel rapid innovation.

NVIDIA (NVDA)

NVIDIA remains at the center of the AI hardware ecosystem. Its GPUs (such as the H100, A100) are the standard for training large AI models. Over the last year, NVIDIA’s stock has increased by about +45%, driven by multi-year contracts with cloud providers and institutional adoption. The company continues to push into custom AI silicon and data center AI infrastructure.
📊 Chart source: Yahoo Finance

AMD (AMD)

AMD has significantly ramped its AI capabilities, especially with its MI-series accelerators. With a large supply contract with OpenAI, its stock is up about +22% over the past year. The company is increasingly seen as a key competitor to NVIDIA in the AI compute domain.
📊 Chart source: Yahoo Finance

Alphabet / Google (GOOGL)

Google is deeply integrated into AI. Beyond its consumer-facing products, it is a major provider of AI infrastructure (via Google Cloud’s AI and ML services). Its “Tensor” chips, large language models, and AI research divisions (DeepMind, etc.) give it a central role across both tech and enterprise AI. Alphabet’s stock rose +29.15% YTD.
📊 Chart source: Yahoo Finance

Intel (INTC)

Intel is pivoting from legacy PC and server processors toward AI-accelerated hardware (e.g. Gaudi accelerators, AI inference chips). The transition is slower compared to NVIDIA/AMD, but investors are watching its AI roadmap. Intel's stock is up +83.11% YTD, indicating strong market confidence in its new direction.
📊 Chart source: Yahoo Finance

Microsoft (MSFT)

Microsoft is deeply embedded in AI via its Azure platform, investments in OpenAI, and integration of AI across Office / Windows / enterprise software.
📊 Chart source: Yahoo Finance

Outlook & Technical Themes

• As compute demands scale, the economics of AI chips favour those with volume, efficiency, and margin.

• Many new chip designs emphasize energy efficiency and on-device inference (edge AI).

• Watch for vertical integration: AI firms acquiring chip capability and platforms embedding silicon.

2. The Infrastructure Providers Powering the AI Boom

AI needs more than algorithms — it requires a robust physical and digital backbone: data storage, power, cooling, security, and networking.

Snowflake (SNOW)

Snowflake’s platform provides the infrastructure to store, query, and share data securely. Its stock is up +89.3% in the last year.
📊 Chart source: Yahoo Finance

Vertiv Holdings (VRT)

Vertiv’s systems (including liquid cooling) are increasingly essential to AI-scale infrastructure. Stock is up +59%.
📊 Chart source: Yahoo Finance

NextEra Energy (NEE)

NextEra bridges renewable generation with grid infrastructure. Its 2024 stock rose +21.47%.
📊 Chart source: Yahoo Finance

Equinix (EQIX)

Though its stock dipped -7.6%, Equinix remains crucial in hosting AI workloads.
📊 Chart source: Yahoo Finance

CrowdStrike (CRWD)

CrowdStrike’s cybersecurity platform has seen +28.3% growth recently.
📊 Chart source: Yahoo Finance

Palo Alto Networks (PANW)

PANW is integral in securing AI data flows and network endpoints.
📊 Chart source: Yahoo Finance

Technical & Emerging Trends

• Edge AI infrastructure

• Energy efficiency and liquid cooling

• AI model integrity and security

• Interconnect & quantum networks

3. Sectors Using AI to Accelerate Innovation

These industries are embedding AI into operations, products, services, and business models to drive innovation, technology, efficiency and growth.

Healthcare & Biotech

• Moderna (MRNA): AI for mRNA sequence optimization.
  📊 Chart source: Yahoo Finance

• Intuitive Surgical (ISRG): AI-assisted robotic surgery.
  📊 Chart source: Yahoo Finance

Financial Services

• BlackRock (BLK): Aladdin platform; up +26.5%.
  📊 Chart source: Yahoo Finance

• Block (SQ): AI in payments and merchant analytics.
  📊 Chart source: Yahoo Finance

• Goldman Sachs (GS): AI in quant strategies and risk systems.
  📊 Chart source: Yahoo Finance

Manufacturing & Automation

• Rockwell Automation (ROK): AI in industrial control systems.
  📊 Chart source: Yahoo Finance

• Siemens (SIEGY): AI-powered smart factories.
  📊 Chart source: Yahoo Finance

Retail & E-Commerce

• Amazon (AMZN): AI across logistics and personalisation; +37.3% YoY.
  📊 Chart source: Yahoo Finance

• Shopify (SHOP): AI tools for merchants and SMEs.
  📊 Chart source: Yahoo Finance

• Alphabet / Google: AI-driven ads, search enhancements.

Emerging Dynamics & Outlook

• Model-driven product differentiation

• Revenue transformation via AI-enabled services

• Cost reduction through automation

• Trust, transparency, and compliance challenges

Disclaimer: All stock performance figures represent publicly available data as of October 8, 2025. Please refer to Yahoo Finance for up-to-date pricing and trends. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.

Chart sources: Yahoo Finance for all listed companies