Morgan Stanley: Six key AI stocks

Morgan Stanley named the best stocks for investing in artificial intelligence, noting that industry leadership goes beyond traditional players and covers the memory segment. According to the bank's estimates, the semiconductor market for AI will grow by an average of 22-55% per year until 2030, and the value is gradually shifting from hardware to application solutions.

1. SanDisk has become the top choice among American companies in the memory segment. Morgan Stanley upgraded its rating to «Best Choice,» highlighting its strong position in NAND technology, which is projected to benefit from the growing demand for AI. An additional driver may be new export restrictions that could affect the chip market.

2. ASML has received an «Above Market» recommendation. The company extracts a significant portion of its revenue from memory (about 39% in 2024) and, according to analysts, is well prepared to restore the DRAM cycle. An additional growth factor was the strategic partnership with Mistral AI, in which ASML is investing €1.3 billion.

3. SK Hynix is also rated «Above the Market». The Bank believes that the key risks in the HBM segment have already been taken into account by the market, and a new growth in commodity memory is expected in 2026. The positive forecasts for the company were recently confirmed by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings.

4. Samsung Electronics remains Morgan Stanley's main choice, due to its prospects in the HBM and robotics segments. The company recently passed the Nvidia qualifications for its HBM3E product with 12 layers.

5. KIOXIA has been named the «best opportunity» in Japan. Its BiCS-8 technology allows for higher storage density with lower capital costs. Morgan Stanley has upgraded KIOXIA's rating to «Above Market,» and the company is preparing for the first placement of dollar-denominated bonds worth up to $3 billion.

6. KLA Corporation closes the list of favorites. She is considered the main beneficiary of TSMC's investments and the growing demand for process control in DRAM. In the latest report, the company reported $3.18 billion in revenue and earnings of $9.38 per share, exceeding market expectations.