Forget Palantir? Broadcom, Applied Digital as AI plays

The article positions Palantir as the well-known AI name investors might already own, then pivots to two less obvious ways to play the same boom: Broadcom and Applied Digital. Broadcom's angle is custom chips and networking rather than general-purpose processors, which puts it alongside hyperscalers building their own AI infrastructure. The article notes its AI semiconductor revenue more than tripled year over year, and management expects more acceleration in the current quarter, while its VMware AI Factory software business adds another layer.

Applied Digital takes the physical infrastructure route, building and running data centers. It has secured three deals with an investment-grade hyperscaler across different campuses, bringing total contracted capacity to $36 billion. Its Polaris Forge 1 campus in North Dakota has already kicked off operations, and it has secured further financing to expand. The move to hive off its cloud services business into ChronoScale is framed as a way to sharpen focus on large-scale AI campuses.

The article's final framing is a risk trade-off. Broadcom is presented as the steadier option because of its diversified chip and software business, while Applied Digital is the higher-risk, higher-reward bet on data center construction. Which one suits a given portfolio likely hinges on how much risk the investor is willing to take on, and on whether Applied Digital's pipeline keeps converting into operational facilities.