Dell, Silicon Motion, Maxlinear picked to beat Nasdaq in 2027

Three picks stand against a backdrop of an increasingly crowded AI trade, where chipmakers, hyperscalers and neoclouds are on more investors' radars. Dell anchors the list as a beneficiary of the data center build-out: its infrastructure solutions group, which includes AI data center products, delivered $31.8 billion of the company's $47 billion in total Q2 revenue, and its AI-optimized servers brought in $16.4 billion. Dell's partnership with Nvidia and more than 6,500 enterprises adopting its Dell AI Factory are signs the momentum can continue.

Silicon Motion Technology sits further down the supply chain, making NAND flash controllers for solid-state drives and enterprise AI data centers, with Micron, Sandisk and SK Hynix among its largest customers. The stock has more than doubled this year but has been sluggish since May, and the second quarter's 127% year-over-year sales jump is evidence a rebound may be on the way. Maxlinear, meanwhile, has more than tripled this year, with its AI infrastructure segment, where revenue surged 145% year over year, alongside progress in reducing operating losses.

What ties the three together is the view that a crowded market can still present opportunities to outperform the Nasdaq Composite in 2027, with each company offering a different slice of AI exposure — servers, storage controllers and optical data center products.