As I sat watching Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on Monday, I had to stop and think.

Not because I’ll finally be able to use Siri for more than just setting alarms on my phone.

Or that soon I’ll be able to create an emoji to look like my wife (although that will be the first thing I do when I get the capability).

My pause was because I thought of just how far and how fast we’ve come with artificial intelligence (AI) in less than two years.

Since November 2022, when ChatGPT started writing college term papers, the AI revolution has been in high gear.

I’ll tell you this … we haven’t even scratched the surface of AI and its potential.

We’re amazed that we can use AI to write emails or term papers and create videos and images.

I would project that’s just 1% of AI’s real capabilities.

As an investor, that’s an exciting prospect.

Looking at the broader AI market, there may only be five big players in AI (six after Apple’s big announcements this week) right now. But smaller companies with the potential to earn massive gains are coming out of the woodwork.

And the investors that find these stocks and buy early are set to reap massive rewards.

On top of that, one of Big Tech’s market leaders has finally revealed its AI plans…

Still Open Seats at AI’s Table

The five biggest names in the AI game now are Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN), Alphabet Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOGL), Meta Platforms Inc. (Nasdaq: META), Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Nvidia Corp. (Nasdaq: NVDA).

These are the public companies making headlines for their development of AI microchips or huge investments in AI.

Apple looks set to join this list after unveiling its Apple Intelligence (a cute play on AI) at WWDC.

But to think these will be the only companies playing in the AI sandbox is foolish. Here’s why:

The entire AI market was valued at $136 billion at the end of 2023. Projections suggest it will grow 35% in 2024 and another 32% in 2025 … eventually reaching $827 billion by 2030.

It’s a good-sized pie today, but it will be more than 508% larger in just six years … and these are conservative estimates.

More than just six companies will drive that market growth.

Outside of Nvidia, the other five companies provide services related to AI. We haven’t even tapped into companies (like Nvidia) that provide hardware, software and other elements that make AI actually work.

I’m talking about those “behind-the-scenes” companies building out components AI needs to continue this impressive growth streak.

Need more evidence of why more and more companies will start diving into the AI market?

Since the start of the year, those five big AI-related stocks have jumped at least 14% … and, in NVDA’s case, as much as 143%.

And it looks like Apple is ready to take its seat at the AI table. On Tuesday, the day after AAPL’s big WWDC announcement, its shares popped more than 6%. Bullish trading continued on Wednesday, as investors pushed the stock more than 5% higher again.

Don’t think other companies aren’t taking note of what happens to stocks when they make an AI-related development.

Adam’s Way to Play the AI Stock Boom

This trend hasn’t gone unnoticed, least of all by our chief investment strategist, Adam O’Dell.

Last month, he recommended a little-known company that is already making strides to power AI’s growth engine.

This company provides a critical part of what the AI revolution needs to grow 508% in just six years.

That recommendation has already paid off … gaining nearly 56% in a little more than a month.

It’s one of those “behind-the-scenes” companies I was talking about before.

And it’s not too late to grab this AI bull by the horns and ride it to even greater portfolio gains.

If you haven’t already, click here to see why Adam expects it to continue growing — and how you can gain access to the recommendation.

Until next time…

Safe trading,

Matt Clark, CMSA®

Chief Research Analyst, Money & Markets