Goldman Sachs: NVIDIA has led the first phase of the AI industry, paving the way for the next three stages.

The surge of artificial intelligence is sweeping in, with the "chip giant" NVIDIA leading the way in attracting investors' fervor for AI. Goldman Sachs believes this is just the beginning, with more US stocks set to benefit from the AI concept.

In the latest report, Goldman Sachs stock strategist Ryan Hammond pointed out that after NVIDIA, there are three key stages of AI investment worth noting.

The second stage is the infrastructure phase, focusing on companies involved in AI infrastructure other than NVIDIA, including semiconductor companies, cloud service providers, data center REITs, hardware and equipment companies, software security stocks, and utility companies.

While the valuations of most companies in the second stage have already increased, profit adjustments vary significantly. Stocks worth watching include Synopsys, chip design software company Monolithic Power Systems, wireless and broadcast communication operator American Tower, and electrical equipment company Vertiv.

The third stage is the "AI-enabled revenue" phase, focusing on companies that integrate AI into products to increase revenue, such as software and IT service companies. In addition to well-known large tech companies, potential stocks include cloud service provider Cloudflare, software design company Autodesk, database company MongoDB, and cloud service provider Nutanix.

Goldman Sachs noted that the return on investment for third-stage stocks so far this year is 8%. Although the excess returns of these stocks are driven by factors other than AI, investor interest in these stocks is on the rise.

Finally, the fourth stage is the "productivity enhancement" phase, focusing on companies across various industries that use AI technology to improve production efficiency, especially labor-intensive industries such as software services and business services, which are easily affected by AI automation.

In the fourth stage, companies worth watching include The New York Times, Amazon, Walmart, Fidelity National Financial, Tenet Healthcare, and Guidewire Software, according to Goldman Sachs.

Furthermore, Goldman Sachs stated that since the companies in the second and third stages are the foundation for other companies to achieve productivity gains through AI, investors may trade stocks in these two stages more quickly, while stocks in the fourth stage have greater long-term growth potential.