Artificial intelligence (AI) has garnered so much attention over the past couple of years. Experts believe this is a game-changing technology that will impact virtually all industries one day. Investors, unsurprisingly, want to get in on the action.

Nvidia (NVDA -3.12%) has been the standout performer of the AI revolution. Its shares have absolutely skyrocketed, rising 2,270% in just the past five years. As of Jan. 22, this is the world's most valuable company with a market cap of $3.6 trillion.

There's no doubt Nvidia deserves credit for how well it's positioned in the industry. But looking out five years to 2030, I believe two other "Magnificent Seven" stocks will end up being AI's biggest winners.

Picks and shovels

Nvidia sells graphics processing units that support AI infrastructure. It has a monopoly position in the market for data center chips, its top business line, which generated 88% of company revenue in the fiscal third quarter of 2025 (ended Oct. 27). That figure was up 112% year over year, demonstrating insatiable demand for these powerful chips.

This business has become the premier way to invest in the AI trend. That's because it's a picks-and-shovels play, benefiting from the growth of the overall industry.

But there are some red flags hiding in plain sight. Nvidia deals with customer concentration. It's believed that a handful of companies, a list that probably includes Amazon, Alphabet (GOOGL 1.13%) (GOOG 1.16%), Meta Platforms (META 1.74%), and Microsoft, account for a sizable portion of revenue.

The issue, though, is that these so-called hyperscalers are all working on their own chips to power their own AI applications. They have the cash and technical know-how to integrate upstream, which could seriously hurt demand for Nvidia in the future.

Additionally, investors need to think about what happens in an economic downturn. Spending on technology is such a huge part of the economy that there will surely be a major pullback in a recessionary scenario. Nvidia would likely take a hit in this situation, which leads to sizable downside for what is an expensive stock.

Billions of people

The two businesses that I believe will be AI's top winners by 2030 are Alphabet and Meta Platforms. These are already dominant enterprises that each serve billions of users, which is a key advantage. This supports the view that AI success stories might mostly come from companies that have long been thriving, letting the technology enhance their offerings.

Having a massive user base provides an immediate audience to constantly introduce AI features to, with instant feedback. This can inform further product upgrades and iterations.

And while Nvidia's revenue is concentrated in a relatively small number of customers, both Alphabet and Meta each have millions of customers using their ad platforms to target users. Not having customer concentration is a positive trait.

Alphabet and Meta possess powerful network effects. Google Search and YouTube get better as more people use these services. The same is true of Meta's social media apps.

There aren't many businesses as financially sound as these two, either. Both generate billions of dollars in free cash flow each quarter, allowing them to operate with strong balance sheets that facilitate aggressive growth investments.

Having access to a massive amount of data to train AI models is critical to improve their functionality. Here's where Alphabet and Meta shine. They might have the two largest data repositories on the face of the planet, ranging from search queries to social interactions to even video, with Alphabet's YouTube and Meta's Reels, for example.

Both Alphabet and Meta shares trade at forward price-to-earnings ratios ranging from 50% to 55% cheaper than Nvidia stock. This creates greater upside, positioning them well to be AI's biggest winners this decade.