You can invest in AI stocks by gaining exposure to the companies that build, power and use artificial intelligence (AI), from chip designers to cloud providers. Together, these companies make up what we call the AI investment stack. On Luno, you can do this through tokenised stocks. These are fractional tokens that track the share prices of companies listed in the US, bought in local currency and traded 24 hours a day, five days a week.
Chances are you have used AI today. You may have asked a chatbot to draft an email, read a search summary at the top of your results, or opened an app that recommended what to watch next. For most people, AI stopped being a headline and became a habit.
This guide looks at that habit from an investor’s side.
What are AI stocks?
AI stocks are shares in companies that design, build, power or use artificial intelligence. The group includes chip designers such as Nvidia and Broadcom, the chip manufacturer TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company), cloud providers such as Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon, and large AI spenders such as Meta. No single company represents the whole theme, so many investors look at the chain as a group instead of choosing one name.
Why are investors looking at AI stocks now?
Demand for AI is growing, and the spending behind it is large. Five figures show the scale.
900 million. That is how many people use ChatGPT every week, according to OpenAI in February 2026. In October 2025 the figure was 800 million.
70%. Google and Ipsos research found that 70% of South African adults have used an AI chatbot, up 25 percentage points since 2023.
$700 billion. That is about how much Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and Meta are expected to spend in 2026 on the data centres, chips and power behind AI. Estimates vary by source and have risen with each earnings update.
$89 billion. That was Nvidia’s data centre revenue in a single quarter (to 26 July 2026), up 117% on a year earlier. It made up about 92% of the company’s total revenue.
$46.72 billion. That was TSMC’s revenue for the third quarter of 2026, reported on 15 October, up 41.2% in US dollars on a year earlier.
The first two figures show demand. The last three show where the money goes to meet it.
How much of your day already runs on AI?
Most of the AI you touch does not announce itself. It sits behind search summaries, photo and video features, spam filters, fraud checks on card payments, translation and the recommendations in apps you open daily. People adopt it without deciding to.
That matters to investors because usage pays for the infrastructure. Every request runs on a chip, in a data centre, owned by a company that pays for both.
How do the companies behind AI connect?
They form a loop of four links: demand, cloud, chip design and manufacturing. Picking the one company that wins AI is hard, and the loop offers another view, because each link depends on the next.
Demand: People and businesses use AI products, which creates a need for more capacity.
Cloud: The large cloud companies buy that capacity and rent it out.
Chip design: Chip companies design the processors that do the work.
Manufacturing: One foundry builds most of the advanced chips, and its earnings fund the next generation of chips and factories.
The loop closes because spending at one link becomes revenue at the next. The capital spending of the cloud companies is what Nvidia’s growth is made of, and it also funds the factories that supply Nvidia.
The spending is turning into revenue. In the second quarter of 2026, Amazon Web Services (AWS) grew revenue 37% to $42.2 billion, its fastest growth in 18 quarters, and Google Cloud grew revenue 82% to $24.8 billion.
Some of these companies are also connected by money. OpenAI’s $110 billion funding round, announced in February 2026, included $50 billion from Amazon and $30 billion from Nvidia. The loop is not only a metaphor.
This is a simplified, four link view of the AI economy.
Which AI stocks can you buy as tokenised stocks on Luno?
Luno offers a tokenised stock for each link in the loop. The table lists seven, with the layer each one covers.
Layer | Token | What it does in the loop | Details |
Chip design | NVDAx (Nvidia) | Designs the processors that run AI | |
Chip design | AVGOx (Broadcom) | Designs custom AI chips and networking hardware | |
Manufacturing | TSMx (TSMC) | Builds most of the world’s advanced chips | |
Cloud | MSFTx (Microsoft) | Rents AI computing power through its Azure cloud | |
Cloud | GOOGLx (Alphabet) | Cloud, its own chips and AI models | |
Cloud | AMZNx (Amazon) | Runs the largest cloud platform, AWS | |
Demand | METAx (Meta) | Invests in AI for its apps and advertising |
How can you build an AI portfolio?
There is no single correct portfolio, and the decisions are yours. Three questions shape the approach: how many layers to hold, how much to put in each token, and whether to invest all at once or over time.
How many layers? Holding one token per layer is simple. Holding several per layer adds spread within a link and adds positions to track. Spreading money across assets is the idea behind diversification.
Equal or unequal amounts? Putting the same amount in each token is the plainest approach and avoids relying on a view about which company wins. Some investors weight toward the layer they understand best. Those investors often write down the reason, so they can test it later.
All at once or over time? Tokens are fractional and bought in your local currency, so a position can be built in stages. Spreading purchases over weeks or months means the position does not depend on the price on a single day.
Once built, a portfolio gets a review from time to time. If one token has grown to dominate it, the investor decides whether that is what they intended.
What should you consider before investing in AI stocks?
Five considerations apply to this theme: concentration, continued spending, share price behaviour, geography and the structure of tokenised stocks. Each is worth weighing before a purchase.
Concentration: Seven tokens can look like a spread, but all seven are large US listed technology companies tied to one theme, so they can fall together. Diversification depends on how assets move relative to each other, not on how many you hold. Index tokens such as QQQx (Nasdaq 100) and SPYx (S&P 500) lean on the same companies.
Continued spending: UBS analysts estimate that Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft will spend about as much on capital expenditure in 2026 as their cloud businesses bring in. If the large spenders slow down, the chip and manufacturing links feel it.
Share price behaviour: Strong results do not guarantee returns. A company can grow fast and still see its share price fall if the market already expected the growth.
Geography: TSMC makes most of its chips in Taiwan, and Nvidia has said its outlook assumes no data centre revenue from China. Policy and geopolitical changes can cause fast price moves.
Tokenised stocks are not shares: They track the share price and are backed 1:1 by real shares held by a regulated custodian. They carry no voting rights, and dividends are reinvested into the same token instead of paid out.
How do you buy AI stocks on Luno?
Tokenised stocks are bought in the Luno app or on the web platform, in your local currency. The steps below apply to each token in the table.
Open the Luno app and make sure your wallet is funded.
Go to the Stocks section on the Discover tab.
Search for the token, for example NVDAx.
Enter the amount you want to invest.
Review the price and the trade fee, then confirm.
Repeat for each token you want to hold.
Tokenised stocks are available to customers verified in South Africa and Nigeria. Product availability varies by market and eligibility.
Frequently asked questions about AI stocks and tokenised stocks
Which AI stocks can I buy on Luno?
Luno offers tokenised stocks for seven AI linked companies: Nvidia (NVDAx), Broadcom (AVGOx), TSMC (TSMx), Microsoft (MSFTx), Alphabet (GOOGLx), Amazon (AMZNx) and Meta (METAx). Together they cover chip design, manufacturing, cloud and demand, the four links in the AI loop.
How do I invest in AI stocks in South Africa?
Customers verified in South Africa can buy tokenised stocks that track AI companies through the Luno app or web platform. Purchases are in local currency, with no offshore account, no currency conversion and no traditional broker. Holding tokens across several links of the AI chain spreads exposure beyond a single company.
Can I buy Nvidia stock in South Africa?
Customers verified in South Africa can hold NVDAx, a tokenised stock that tracks the Nvidia share price. NVDAx is not an Nvidia share, so it carries no voting rights. Trading is in local currency, 24 hours a day, five days a week, with instant settlement.
What are tokenised stocks?
Tokenised stocks are blockchain based tokens that track the value of real company shares, such as Apple or Tesla. The underlying shares are held in regulated custody by Backed Finance, now part of Kraken. They give exposure to global companies without a traditional brokerage account.
Who can buy tokenised stocks on Luno?
Tokenised stocks are available to customers verified in South Africa and Nigeria, on the Luno web platform and in the app. Product availability varies by market and eligibility.
