Right then. The world, as usual, is changing faster than a greased wizard fleeing a tax collector. This current flurry? Artificial Intelligence. Or, as the Guild of Alchemists and Venture Capitalists now calls it, ‘Automated Cleverness.’1 Naturally, this has caused a bit of a kerfuffle. Fears of machines stealing jobs, massive investments in…well, glorified sheds full of blinking lights… and a general air of ‘what have we done?’ But kerfuffles, my friends, are often where opportunity hides. A sensible investor doesn’t run from the dragons, they learn to polish their scales.
After sifting through the usual parade of hopefuls and outright charlatans, three names rose to the top. Not because they’re guaranteed winners – nothing is, unless you’re a particularly persuasive goblin – but because they seem… reasonably positioned. With a thousand dollars, one can’t exactly commission a new continent, but one can acquire a small piece of the future. Amazon, Salesforce, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. Let’s have a look, shall we?
1. Applauding Amazon’s Rather Large Hoard
Amazon, the company that started by selling books and now seems to sell everything except common sense, has taken a bit of a tumble. A 20% drop, they say. Wall Street, predictably, is clutching its pearls. The reason? A plan to spend two hundred billion dollars by 2026. On… things. Mostly ‘Automated Cleverness’ and those aforementioned glorified sheds. It’s a sum that would make even a dragon blush. But consider this: building things costs money. And Amazon, for all its eccentricities, is rather good at building things.
They’re central to this ‘Automated Cleverness’ business, being the world’s leading purveyor of cloud services. These ‘Automated Cleverness’ contraptions don’t run on pixie dust, you know. They require vast amounts of computing power, which is delivered… via the cloud. Therefore, all this ‘Automated Cleverness’ is funneling business to Amazon. They must build the capacity to handle it, or risk losing out to rivals. AWS, Amazon’s cloud business, is their golden goose. It accounts for most of their profits. A goose that occasionally lays a slightly alarming, but undeniably profitable, egg.
And if ‘Automated Cleverness’ turns out to be a war fought with infrastructure – and frankly, what isn’t these days? – Amazon is arguably best equipped. Their experience building a global supply chain is… substantial. Eventually, ‘Automated Cleverness’ will present other opportunities. Humanoid robots, perhaps. Imagine the possibilities! The stock has slipped to just 15 times Amazon’s operating cash flow, its lowest valuation in a decade. A bargain, practically.2
2. Salesforce Weathering the (Likely) Overstated Demise of Software
Investors, in their infinite wisdom, have decided that ‘Automated Cleverness’ will render traditional enterprise software obsolete. The result? Salesforce’s stock has been chopped in half. For those unfamiliar, Salesforce is one of the oldest software companies around. It started by managing customer relationships – a task that remains surprisingly difficult, even with all this ‘Automated Cleverness’ – and has evolved into a massive platform, touching virtually every aspect of a company’s daily activities. Sales, marketing, customer service… you name it.
Will ‘Automated Cleverness’ disrupt Salesforce? Anything is possible, of course. But it seems unlikely. Even if ‘Automated Cleverness’ can build an interface that looks like Salesforce, ensuring it actually works, troubleshooting problems, and integrating with other systems is a whole other kettle of fish. Salesforce is proactively integrating ‘Automated Cleverness’ features into its products, giving customers access to these tools without leaving the platform. A sensible move, really.
This pessimism has dropped Salesforce’s stock to less than 15 times forward earnings estimates. A shockingly low valuation for a leading software stock. Analysts estimate that Salesforce will grow earnings by 18% annually over the next three to five years. It seems the stock easily compensates for any ‘Automated Cleverness’ concerns at this point, making Salesforce a no-brainer rebound candidate. Unless, of course, the gnomes decide to short it.3
3. Taiwan Semiconductor Looking at Another Banner Year in 2026
Hundreds of billions of dollars are pouring into these ‘Automated Cleverness’ data centers, creating a golden growth opportunity for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. They are the world’s leading foundry, manufacturing chips for companies like Nvidia and countless others. One could call them the ultimate pick-and-shovel tech stock. They account for more than 70% of global foundry revenue, meaning the world’s ‘Automated Cleverness’ and tech flow primarily through TSM in some form or another.
TSM’s importance hasn’t gone unnoticed by investors; the stock is trading near its all-time high. It’s just that Wall Street is struggling to keep up with TSM’s rampant growth. Analysts estimate that TSM will grow its earnings by 30% annually over the next three to five years. That makes the stock a strong buy at just 25 times this year’s earnings estimates.
‘Automated Cleverness’ currently has the full financial support of the private sector, and the U.S. government has emphasized its importance to national security. Research by McKinsey & Company estimates that total global data center spending will approach $6.7 trillion by the end of this decade. As long as that stays on track, it will be hard to find a bigger winner than Taiwan Semiconductor, as much of that capital winds up as chip orders that the foundry will ultimately help its customers fulfill. And remember, a well-fed foundry is a happy foundry.4
1
The Guild, naturally, takes a substantial cut of all ‘Automated Cleverness’ profits. For ‘research purposes,’ they claim.
2
Though one should always be wary of bargains. They often come with hidden gremlins.
3
The gnomes are notoriously unpredictable investors. And they have a fondness for shorting things just to be contrary.
4
A disgruntled foundry can cause all sorts of problems. Chip shortages, faulty circuits… it’s best to keep them happy.
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2026-02-19 13:23