The best way to predict a company’s future comes from looking at how it spends its money. It’s no secret that for technology companies to stay on top, they spend funds abundantly on research and development. However, in the world of AI, there’s nothing more important than computing power. Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) has been selling picks and shovels to miners during the AI gold rush.

Figuring out which AI stocks to buy can be difficult, as many tech giant AI projects are still in development. Investors can use statistics to predict which companies have the brightest future in the AI sector. One of the best ways to do this is by determining how much companies are investing in AI infrastructure.

That’s because it takes an exorbitant amount of processing power to develop AI large language models. Let’s look at how these AI investments are coming along by discussing three of the biggest buyers of Nvidia GPUs.

Stocks to Buy: Microsoft (MSFT)

With its recent rebrand combining Bing AI and Copilot, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) has gone all in on its AI products. Yet the process of trying to create the best large language model doesn’t just mean investing millions into open AI. From Microsoft, the two-pronged approach of large language models and its Azure cloud services have resulted in the company having to buy over 150,000 units of Nvidia GPUs.

So far, thanks to a large amount of cash invested, Microsoft has seen tremendous expansion in valuation and customer base. Furthermore, its clear dedication to the AI space means that it will likely continue to be one of the top customers of GPUs in the years to come as it expands its offerings to more and more businesses.

Furthermore, Nvidia GPUs serve as pistons in an engine for the AI race. Microsoft’s investments mean it has more than enough to continue to power ahead against its competition. Therefore, just from its investments alone, Microsoft looks like one of the best stocks to buy in the GPU race.

Meta Platforms (META)

Social media master Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), has predicted a total business expense range of $94-99 billion in 2024. Unsurprisingly, a significant portion of these expenses come from its commitment to computing expansion. The question is, however, what does a primarily social media service company have to gain from AI investing?

The answer: Meta is one of the leading companies pursuing artificial general intelligence. This superior type of AI exceeds many of the functions of regular AI, which eats up far more computer processing. However, current predictions vary widely on what the actual applications of artificial general intelligence will be. 

Even so, the first company to achieve this leap in AI technology will likely come to dominate the market. For investors, keeping a close eye on GPU usage and procurement directly impacts the speed of AGI development. Of course, such foresight is critical when determining which stocks to buy in the AGI race.

Stocks to Buy: Amazon (AMZN)

Between Amazon Web Services and new plays into mobile edge computing, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) has invested heavily to expand its AI potential. As each year goes by, it becomes clearer and clearer that Amazon’s original business model of warehousing and shipping isn’t the true money maker. In fact, Amazon aims to be the company through which all cloud and edge computing is done in the AI future.

To achieve this, the company has needed to buy nearly 50,000 GPUs, which puts it in the top five. The difference, however, lies in the way that Amazon provides these web services. To accelerate cloud computing, Amazon combines these GPUs into highly intricate supercomputing cluster networks.

This approach has led to AWS cloud computing networks becoming increasingly desirable to companies outsourcing their data processing needs. Thus, it’s likely Amazon will continue to buy GPUs. For investors and Amazon alike, the outsourced computing model will be a driver of AMZN stock for years to come.

On the date of publication, Viktor Zarev did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.