Every company is now an AI company
The stock market is facing many challenges this year, from tax rates and inflation to a heated government and consumer confidence. But the main story, as it has been for the past few years, was Ai.
While the S&P 500 managed its way to a 17% gain, head-holding AI stocks left the index in the dust. Nvidia got 33% by 2025, while palantir, micron technology and seagate technology got 153% and 200% and 245%, respectively.
In line with this, many investors have been chasing AI bullish circles while looking for potential risk factors. But chipmakers, master language engineers (LLM) and Cloud Computing providers are not the only way to get exposure to AI.
Today, companies – regardless of the industry – spend a lot of money, or capex, on the deployment of AI agents with the aim of remaining competitive while strengthening revenue and income.
That’s something CEO VLAD TENV explained at the Bloomberg Race earlier this fall. “Every company is going to be an AI company,” he said. “But that will happen at a more accelerated rate [than traditional tech adoption]. “
Here’s how investors can get exposure to AI by using stocks that don’t combine culture and technology.
Looking beyond the hyperceku
Apart from companies providing infrastructure services for Chips or Data Centers, in the last few years, the best seven have been around the corner to spend time to realize their AI ambitions.
Together, those companies made nearly $300 billion in AI Capex last year. This year, they wake up to exceed $ 400 billion, and some estimates call for an excellent AI Capex of 2026 at $ 533 billion.
Going in, the five largest AI Hyperscalers now account for 27% of all S&P 500 Capex, according to Goldman Sachs’ 2026 Outlook. The prediction of the investment bank is that the use of money related to the Global infrastructure will reach $ 4 trillion in 2030.
Corporations are not alone in those costs. According to Reuters, from 2013 to 2024, investors made $1.6 trillion in AI equity. That helps NVIDIA and Apple exceed $ 4 trillion to count, with alphabetical caps and Microsoft following suit.
At the same time, the sales of AI and Robotics saw approximately $14.7 billion by the end of November 2025.
The ceiling and the risk of torture
The problem of getting AI exposure with HyperScalers – companies that work in data centers offer customized computing, storage services and aw flu, AWOZRON’s AWGOCE – is the mass of connected enterprises –
HyperScalers provide the clustering power, scalable infrastructure and data management capabilities needed for deep learning AI and LLMS. That reliance creates a high-risk pattern between the companies that market those services and the companies that manufacture the critical components needed for data center operations.
“U.S. Equity managers are always building on the long-term potential of AI but are looking at cyclical financial cycles as signs of overconfidence,” analyst Jonathan Woo, Senior Research Analyst at Russell Investments, wrote in November.
That cycle — a practice in which companies invest repeatedly in each other, effectively creating capital flows as they refinance each other’s services and products — is one that fuels discussion of a potential ai bubble.
On the other hand, companies whose core businesses fall outside of AI are turning to artificial intelligence to improve productivity and increase earnings from acquisitions that can reduce the risk of diversification.
How companies outside of tech are taming AI
From healthcare to mass mobility, AI is rapidly advancing in technology and becoming effective applications for industries as companies look for competitive advantages.
Stanford University Report
The result is that many stocks offer exposure to AI while maintaining their core business components.
That includes companies working in unconventional market corners such as flexible materials and technology and telecommunications — two sectors that are home to some of the best AI stocks.
While these investments are likely to offer eye-catching returns for AI firms such as Nvidia and Palantir, they are incomparably exposed to the low-risk stocks associated with low-performing stocks.
Consumer Staples, Energy and Utilities depend on AI
Companies in the defense sectors – including consumer electronics, energy and utilities – are often overlooked. But because these sectors offer valuable goods and services and are thus stable, they are the go-to for investors looking to hedge against risky positions.
Walmart is the discount department of the department store, the largest grocer in the US and the e-commerce collence on Amazon. But the company is deploying AI to personalize the online shopper experience and increase apple-chain and store efficiency.
Its AI applications include Inventory management, Warehouse automation, Forecasting and recovery and anti-theft. The stock is up nearly 26% this year, outperforming the S&P 500 and marginally trailing nvidia.
The world’s leading petroleum company, Valero, is integrating AI across multiple functions, including 17 pilot programs aimed at increasing efficiency from the company’s plant floor to the company’s plant management. In its third-quarter earnings call, Vice Movember Greg Bram noted that Valero is using robotic automation and AI for machine testing.
Valero is also using AI for robust Futer Avaiation of renewable diesel production processes. Excluding the energy companies’ battles in 2025, the stock has posted annualized daily gains of more than 44%.
In the field of services, Constellation Energy – the largest producer of carbon-free energy in the US and Electric Power – offered AI systems that improve the performance of nuclear plants, including predictive maintenance. The energy provider improves grid resilience and reliability with AI tools that help manage demand response.
Constellation Energy also uses machine learning to help its engineers predict fuel needs, setting needs that lead to improved energy output and reduced operating costs. The stock is up more than 49% this year.
Getting exposure to AI while being cut off against tech dowturns
Just because those examples fall outside the AI space doesn’t mean they don’t have their challenges. Those defensive sectors still tend to reduce consumer confidence, record oil production and capital investment needs for grid repair and modernization.
But when AI prices rise and fearful investor sentiment causes the financial and telecommunications sectors to pull back, these stocks could put investors’ portfolios at increased risk.
According to Ray Dalio, the founder of the largest Hedge Fund in the world, with whom he is associated in Bridgewater, “in trading, you have to be aggressive at the same time. If you don’t stop yourself, and if you don’t stop, you won’t save money either.”
With AI, investors now have the opportunity to accomplish those various tasks in sectors that are often overlooked.
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