Survey: 67% of Gen Z Are Confident in AI Returns Versus Only 50% of Boomers. Here Are 2 AI Stocks to Buy Now and Hold for Decades.

• As of the extremity of its fiscal 2026 archetypal quarter, Microsoft had a contracted backlog of astir $400 billion.

• Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing's dominance of the spot foundry marketplace continues to grow.

• 10 stocks we similar amended than Microsoft ›

Younger investors and high-income Americans are taking a keen involvement successful artificial quality (AI) arsenic a semipermanent concern theme. In fact, according to The Motley Fool's 2026 AI Investor Outlook Report, 67% of the Gen Z respondents highlighted their assurance successful the quality of AI-powered investments to make semipermanent returns, compared with conscionable 50% of babe boomers. Overall, astir 62% of respondents claimed assurance successful AI's semipermanent instrumentality potential.

With AI being progressively viewed arsenic a multidecade wealth-generating accidental alternatively than conscionable a passing trend, investors tin see holding positions successful these 2 high-quality stocks for decades.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is progressively focusing connected scaling up real-world production-grade AI deployments crossed Azure. Azure is the second-largest nationalist unreality computing platform, and exited the 3rd 4th with a 20% planetary marketplace share.

In its fiscal 2026 archetypal 4th (which ended Sept. 30), Microsoft's unreality revenues roseate 26% twelvemonth implicit twelvemonth to $49.1 billion. With request for Azure AI services exceeding disposable capacity, the institution plans to summation its AI capableness by implicit 80% successful fiscal 2026 and treble its information halfway footprint wrong the adjacent 2 years.

The company's AI-powered virtual assistant, Copilot, is being positioned arsenic a level alternatively than a stand-alone productivity diagnostic to negociate agents and workflows crossed Microsoft 365, GitHub, and security. The institution exited its fiscal Q1 with implicit 900 cardinal monthly progressive users for its AI features and implicit 150 cardinal monthly progressive Copilot users.

Microsoft's full commercialized remaining show obligations (a measurement of contracted backlog) roseate 50% twelvemonth implicit twelvemonth to astir $400 billion, highlighting the multiyear gross visibility of its AI-powered services.

Against the backdrop of these AI-powered tailwinds, the banal appears a astute prime to bargain and clasp for the adjacent decade, particularly arsenic it trades astatine a tenable valuation of 25.2 times guardant earnings.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE: TSM) is an indispensable AI infrastructure player, with a astir 72% stock of the spot foundry market. The institution has intimately aligned its exertion roadmap and capableness enlargement plans to capitalize connected the surging request for AI-optimized logic and representation chips.