OpenAI expects its revenue to explode over the next few years. 2026 revenue could top $25 billion, according to internal documents. That could climb to nearly $200 billion by 2030. To put that in perspective, Nvidia generated $187 billion over the last 12 months.
There’s no doubt OpenAI is one of the most important companies in the artificial intelligence (AI) industry. Its success (or failure) is reverberating across dozens of companies. But if it meets its 2026 revenue expectations, it could be great news for these three AI infrastructure stocks.
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Microsoft(NASDAQ: MSFT) invested about $13 billion in OpenAI between 2019 and 2023. That investment helped lay the foundation for Microsoft’s cloud computing AI services, as it included noncash cloud credits rather than cash for part of the investment.
While the terms of its investment have changed over the years — Microsoft no longer has exclusive rights or the right of first refusal to OpenAI’s cloud computing needs — Microsoft maintains a 27% equity stake in the business. As a result, it has a strong interest in the company’s success.
As of October, when the two companies restructured their deal, OpenAI had contracted $250 billion in Azure services. For reference, Microsoft’s cloud computing division generated $75 billion in revenue for all of fiscal 2025. Of course, OpenAI has to show revenue growth and progress toward its goal of reaching positive free cash flow by 2030 if it wants to continue raising funds to pay for all that compute.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is generating tens of billions in free cash flow from its enterprise software business. That business has been growing steadily, boosted by Microsoft’s own AI development efforts. Adding its Copilot AI to its software suites, Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365, has helped increase total users and revenue per user. With the cash from the software business, Microsoft is able to pour billions into building and leasing new data centers.
While OpenAI is a major customer for Microsoft Azure, it’s far from its only one. The company had a backlog of $625 billion across its cloud and software businesses as of the end of 2025, ensuring ample demand for its infrastructure even if OpenAI can’t meet its contract obligations. That makes it an attractive stock to hold for exposure to OpenAI with less risk.
Oracle(NYSE: ORCL) made a massive deal with OpenAI last fall, leading the company to report a 359% increase in its remaining performance obligations to $455 billion alongside its first-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings report. That number climbed to $523 billion in the second quarter.
Under the deal, OpenAI will pay Oracle $300 billion for compute over a five-year period beginning in 2027. With OpenAI’s commitment representing more than half of Oracle’s entire backlog, and its contract not starting until next year, Oracle investors have a lot riding on the continued success of OpenAI.
Importantly, Oracle is in a much different position than Microsoft when it comes to building out its cloud computing business. While it has a database software business, it doesn’t generate nearly the cash flow needed to fund the massive capacity buildout required to meet the needs of OpenAI and Oracle’s other cloud infrastructure customers. As a result, Oracle is taking on debt to fund its capital expenditures.
Notes payable on Oracle’s balance sheet increased by $16.8 billion in its most recent quarter, with a substantial increase in long-term debt. That makes Oracle a much riskier investment than other OpenAI cloud infrastructure partners that are able to self-fund their buildout.
While Nvidia gets most of OpenAI’s business today, a huge chunk of the AI developer’s chip budget could shift to Broadcom(NASDAQ: AVGO) over the coming years. The two signed an agreement to deploy 10 gigawatts worth of custom-designed AI accelerators between 2026 and 2029. The Financial Times estimated the total cost for OpenAI could be between $350 billion and $500 billion.
OpenAI has deals in place with Nvidia and AMD to deploy 10 gigawatts and 6 gigawatts, respectively, of their GPUs. So, it’s not like OpenAI is completely abandoning the workhorse chips for custom accelerators.
While Broadcom has a burgeoning custom AI accelerator (chips it dubs XPUs) business, OpenAI could represent its biggest customer yet. Management expects its AI semiconductor revenue to double in the first quarter of 2026, reaching $8.2 billion, a $33 billion run rate. The OpenAI started with an initial order worth $10 billion last fall, and it could ramp up quickly, based on the estimate from Financial Times. Analysts see the chipmaker approaching $100 billion in total revenue this year, with continued growth in 2027, fueled by the OpenAI deal and its success with XPUs at other hyperscale customers.
Beyond the XPU business, Broadcom also has a portfolio of software services, led by VMWare, and it’s a leader in wireless handset and networking chips. The networking chip business is also a big beneficiary of the growing spend on AI data centers, as these chips are essential infrastructure for GPU and XPU servers to communicate with one another.
So, while OpenAI is a major growth driver for Broadcom, there are plenty of other growth opportunities for the chipmaker as well.
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Adam Levy has positions in Microsoft. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Oracle. The Motley Fool recommends Broadcom. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
How OpenAI’s Revenue Growth Could Make These 3 AI Infrastructure Stocks Winners in 2026 was originally published by The Motley Fool
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