By Urmimala Biswas
Publication Date: 2026-02-16 17:00:00
Most investors in 2026 agree on one thing- putting money into established AI leaders is the clearest way to tap into the ongoing tech boom. Companies such as NVIDIA NVDA continue to benefit directly from hyperscaler and enterprise AI infrastructure spending. Zacks Consensus Estimates points to fiscal 2026 revenue near $213 billion, supported by next-generation GPU platforms and a deeply embedded software ecosystem. Multi-billion-dollar AI data center expansions by major cloud providers reinforce demand visibility.
The debate now is where incremental capital should flow – toward emerging AI players with accelerating monetization, or toward speculative quantum computing firms offering asymmetric upside. In this article, we examine two AI-focused names — SoundHound AI SOUN and Marvell MRVL, along with 2 quantum computing stocks IonQ IONQ and D-Wave Quantum QBTS. Together, they represent distinct risk-reward pathways across AI software, AI semiconductor infrastructure and next-generation computing architectures.
Let’s delve deeper.
Budding AI or Quantum: Where to Rotate Money?
On the AI side, SoundHound AI and Marvell offer exposure to two different layers of the AI value chain with measurable growth trajectories.
SoundHound AI’s recent results show strong top-line momentum, with the last-reported third quarter 2025 revenue of up 68% year over year and 2025 guidance implying nearly 98% annual growth,…
