Justin Pope, Will Healy, and Jake Lerch, The Motley Fool

Sun, Jun 15, 2025, 3:45 AM7 min read

• Apple's massive installed base virtually ensures the company will have ample opportunities to capitalize on artificial intelligence (AI).

• Applying AI to digital ad buying could be huge for The Trade Desk’s investors and customers.

• Robinhood is one of the fastest-growing brokerages in the market.

• 10 stocks we like better than Apple ›

The world is gearing up for artificial intelligence (AI), which researchers believe could unleash between $15 trillion and $23 trillion in annual economic value by 2040. AI could be a game-changer for countless industries and will likely create new market opportunities in the process.

Currently, most of Wall Street has focused on companies like Nvidia, which are selling billions of dollars worth of chips and hardware for AI data centers.

Eventually, though, AI will move beyond its hyperfocus on data centers into the real world, and that presents a huge market opportunity that investors are only just beginning to position their portfolios for.

Three Motley Fool analysts put their heads together. They arrived at Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), The Trade Desk (NASDAQ: TTD), and Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ: HOOD) as technology leaders in excellent position to capitalize on AI tailwinds that could drive growth for years to come. Here is what you need to know.

Justin Pope (Apple): Smartphones have become handheld computers, the central technology hub for people living their daily lives. It makes Apple a clear favorite as AI software becomes increasingly integrated into society.

The company's iOS mobile operating system spans phones, accessories, watches, tablets, and computers that all work seamlessly together, creating a formidable competitive moat.

In other words, the more iOS devices you use, the more of a pain it is to abandon the system for something else. Today, that iOS user base spans 2.35 billion devices. It's the perfect distribution network for AI software. But it has become evident that the company's first attempt at AI, Apple Intelligence, hasn't gone off with a bang.

Fortunately for Apple, its system's stickiness gives the iPhone maker room for error that most brands don't have. There's a solid chance that the company will eventually work out these kinks and deploy its consumer-facing AI technology across billions of devices, whether smartphones or other device using its far-reaching iOS platform. Most companies will build AI and then try to find customers -- Apple already has customers, it just needs to develop and ship good software.