Two AI Powerhouses Poised to Surge in the Next Big Bull Market

The stock market enters another potential bull phase, and investors are already hunting for the next wave of winners. If you’re betting on artificial intelligence’s explosive growth, here are two compelling plays that could shape the coming years of your portfolio.

The Hidden Gems in AI Infrastructure

While mega-cap tech names dominate headlines, a handful of lesser-known companies are quietly building the backbone of the AI revolution. These aren’t household names, but they’re doing the heavy lifting that will power tomorrow’s AI applications. Let’s dig into what makes them tick.

Symbotic: The Warehouse Automation Specialist

Symbotic (NASDAQ: SYM) has carved out a unique position in AI-powered supply chain automation. The company designs and deploys end-to-end robotic warehouse solutions that handle storage, retrieval, and palletization using autonomous fleets and proprietary software.

Why This Matters for the Stock Market

Rather than burning capital on massive factory operations, Symbotic partners with established automotive suppliers for manufacturing. This capital-light model allows the company to scale aggressively while maintaining operational efficiency. The company’s software-as-a-service components—maintenance, support, and ongoing technical assistance—create sticky recurring revenue streams once systems are installed.

The Real Growth Engine

Through its GreenBox warehouse-as-a-service joint venture with SoftBank, Symbotic is transitioning into a services model. Smaller businesses that can’t justify owning automation hardware can now rent warehousing capacity instead. This recurring revenue opportunity could become massive in the coming years.

The numbers tell a compelling story:

• Walmart holds approximately 15% ownership and remains the cornerstone client
• In 2025, Symbotic acquired Walmart’s Advanced Systems and Robotics business, deepening integration
• Contracted backlog stands at roughly $22.5 billion—approximately 10x annual sales, providing exceptional revenue visibility
• Full-year 2025 revenue surged 26% to nearly $2.3 billion
• Recent fiscal year free cash flow hit $788 million, a massive swing from the prior year’s negative $102.45 million

Major clients including Target, Albertsons, and newly Medline demonstrate the breadth of Symbotic’s market reach. Healthcare automation represents an entirely new vertical waiting to be tapped.

The Bull Market Case

For investors with moderate-to-high risk tolerance seeking a growth-oriented AI and robotics exposure, Symbotic offers a deep runway of expansion. The backlogs and service model suggest years of visible growth ahead.

Applied Digital: The AI Infrastructure Landlord

Applied Digital (NASDAQ: APLD) occupies a different but equally strategic role in the AI ecosystem. The company designs, builds, and operates specialized data center facilities for AI and high-performance computing workloads—essentially acting as infrastructure landlord to the industry’s biggest players.

How Applied Digital Makes Money

The business operates through two revenue streams:

1. Data Center Hosting: The company builds high-density, liquid-cooled data centers (“AI factories”) and leases them to hyperscalers like CoreWeave. Customers bring their own GPU and server equipment, while Applied Digital provides the real estate and power.

2. GPU-as-a-Service: Businesses can tap into on-demand compute power without building their own infrastructure or deploying massive capital. It’s a managed, scalable solution for companies needing HPC capabilities.

The Competitive Advantage

Applied Digital strategically locates data centers near abundant, affordable power sources—often renewable energy. By combining low-cost electricity with innovative cooling methods, the company achieves lower total cost of ownership than competitors, making its offerings highly competitive.

The company has also crushed operational timelines: data center construction now takes 12-14 months instead of the traditional 24-month industry standard. In a market with extreme demand and long lead times, this is a significant edge.

Revenue Visibility and Growth

Long-term contracts provide exceptional visibility:

• Partnership with CoreWeave alone represents approximately $11 billion of the company’s $16 billion in contracted revenue over the next 15 years
• An additional unnamed hyperscaler accounts for the remaining $5 billion
• The company has a 4-gigawatt active development pipeline for AI data centers, with demand far outpacing supply
• Recent quarter top-line growth accelerated 84% to $64.2 million

Applied Digital leverages strategic partnerships, including a $5 billion financing facility with Macquarie Asset Management, to fund the capital-intensive buildout of new facilities.

Why This Matters for Your Portfolio

As AI compute demand explodes, a critical bottleneck is the shortage of purpose-built data centers. Applied Digital is uniquely positioned to fill that gap. For investors wanting exposure to the emerging HPC and AI infrastructure space, this company represents a compelling opportunity to capitalize on a structural tailwind.

The Stock Market Opportunity: Why Now?

Both companies operate in industries experiencing exponential demand growth driven by the AI bull market. Symbotic captures recurring software revenue and service opportunities from warehouse automation deployment. Applied Digital wins from the massive infrastructure buildout required to support AI workloads.

The convergence of these trends—AI adoption accelerating, capital deployment surging, recurring revenue models maturing—suggests both stocks could see significant appreciation as the next big bull cycle unfolds.

Risk Considerations

Symbotic remains unprofitable despite strong cash generation, reflecting the typical growth-stage profile. Applied Digital is also operating at net losses due to heavy upfront capital expenditures and depreciation. Both require patience and a belief in their long-term market opportunities.

Final Thought

In the next bull market, fortunes will be made not just by those who buy the biggest tech names, but by those who identify the emerging infrastructure and automation providers that power the entire ecosystem. Symbotic and Applied Digital may not make the stock market headlines like the mega-cap AI names, but their roles in enabling the AI revolution could translate into outsized returns for patient investors.