For new investors navigating the complexities of the stock market, identifying companies poised for sustained growth over the next decade is paramount. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and CoreWeave stand out as two such powerhouses, leveraging transformative trends like AI, gaming, and cloud computing to offer significant long-term upside and a solid foundation for any burgeoning portfolio.
Embarking on your investment journey can seem daunting, filled with complex terminology and unpredictable market swings. However, the foundational principle of smart investing remains consistent: playing the long game. This isn’t just about picking a winning stock; it’s about harnessing the power of time to transform initial investments into substantial returns. By identifying well-run companies with strong competitive advantages and staying invested in their stocks for many years, anyone can generate impressive wealth.
As we navigate the ever-evolving technological landscape, two companies, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and CoreWeave, present compelling cases for first-time investors looking for long-term growth opportunities. These businesses are not just participating in major market trends; they are actively shaping them, particularly within the explosive fields of artificial intelligence and high-performance computing.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD): Powering the Future of Computing
Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) has a remarkable track record of delivering strong returns for its shareholders. To put its growth into perspective, an initial investment of just $100 a decade ago would now be worth over $12,000. This impressive performance stems from AMD’s pivotal role across multiple booming markets, including personal computers (PCs), gaming consoles, cryptocurrency mining, and increasingly, data centers.
Looking ahead, AMD’s growth story shows no signs of slowing down. The company is set to develop the semi-custom processors for the next generation of gaming consoles from industry giants like Microsoft and Sony, both anticipated for release in 2027. Historically, new console cycles have provided a significant tailwind for AMD, a trend expected to continue as these powerful new systems hit the market.
Perhaps the most significant catalyst for AMD’s future lies in its expanding presence in the AI accelerator market. While Nvidia has dominated this space, AMD has been making substantial strides. The company’s accelerated product development includes the upcoming launch of its MI450 data center graphics processing units (GPUs) next year, designed to help it catch up with competitors. AMD’s efforts are already bearing fruit, notably with a confirmed partnership to supply chips to OpenAI from 2026, powering an estimated 6 gigawatts (GW) of AI computing capacity. This collaboration alone could add an estimated $36 billion to AMD’s data center revenue, a significant leap considering its reported $12.6 billion in data center revenue in 2024, as detailed by AOL Finance.
Beyond data centers, the proliferation of generative AI-capable PCs is projected to drive a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 32% over the next decade. AMD is well-positioned to capitalize on this trend, having steadily gained market share against Intel in the PC processor market. By the second quarter of 2025, AMD’s revenue share of client PC processors reached almost 28%, representing a nearly 10 percentage point increase from the previous year. With its CPUs and graphics cards capable of running AI workloads locally on PCs, AMD is poised to capture an even larger share of the client CPU market in the long run. This strong market positioning and innovation are expected to fuel a significant acceleration in AMD’s earnings, with a projected increase of 19% in 2025 to $3.94 per share.
For first-time investors, AMD’s current valuation, trading at an attractive 28 times forward earnings—a discount compared to the Nasdaq-100 index’s average earnings multiple of 33—presents a compelling entry point for a semiconductor stock with immense long-term upside.
CoreWeave: The Backbone of the AI Revolution
The global surge in artificial intelligence has ignited an unprecedented demand for specialized data centers capable of running complex AI workloads in the cloud. This critical need has created a significant shortage, a deficit that industry experts anticipate will persist for years to come. Consulting firm McKinsey & Company projects that global data center capacity could expand at an annual rate of 19% to 22% by 2030, reaching an astounding 171 GW to 219 GW, a massive leap from last year’s 60 GW demand. McKinsey highlights that “at least twice the data center capacity built since 2000 would have to be built in less than a quarter of the time” to avoid a significant deficit, according to their report on data center growth.
This market dynamic places CoreWeave (NASDAQ: CRWV) in an exceptional position for sustained, explosive growth. CoreWeave specializes in providing dedicated data centers tailored for high-performance computing (HPC) and AI workloads, powered by state-of-the-art GPUs, primarily from Nvidia. Its innovative business model allows customers to rent GPU capacity on demand, enabling them to build, customize, and deploy sophisticated AI applications in the cloud without the massive upfront infrastructure costs.
CoreWeave’s success is evident in its robust contracts with major hyperscalers and AI innovators. The company’s agreements with OpenAI alone total $22.4 billion, while Meta Platforms recently secured a five-year, $14 billion contract. These substantial deals, alongside a $6.3 billion agreement with Nvidia, significantly bolster CoreWeave’s already impressive backlog, which stood at $30 billion at the end of the second quarter. To contextualize this, CoreWeave anticipates generating $5.25 billion in revenue in 2025. This vast backlog, combined with an addressable market projected to grow to $400 billion by 2028, ensures a long runway for growth.
The demand for CoreWeave’s services is further underscored by reports from major financial publications like Reuters, detailing the company’s significant contracts with OpenAI and Meta. CoreWeave is actively working to scale its data center capacity to convert this substantial backlog into revenue. With 470 megawatts (MW) of active capacity at the end of the second quarter and a total contracted capacity standing at an impressive 2.2 GW, the company is poised for considerable top-line expansion as more capacity comes online. For first-time investors seeking a growth stock deeply embedded in the foundational infrastructure of the AI revolution, CoreWeave represents a compelling long-term opportunity.
Why These Stocks for Long-Term Investors
Both AMD and CoreWeave epitomize the kind of growth stocks that can turn first-time investors into long-term winners. Their strong positions in high-growth markets like AI, gaming, and cloud computing provide robust competitive advantages and a clear path for sustained expansion. While market turbulence is an inherent part of the investing journey, companies with solid fundamentals and innovative leadership are best positioned to not only weather challenges but also to thrive, allowing investors to benefit from the market’s best days.
For those just starting to build their investment portfolios, focusing on companies that demonstrate profitable growth and have a long runway ahead is crucial. AMD and CoreWeave are not merely speculative bets; they are businesses with proven track records (or rapidly accumulating backlogs) and strategic visions that align perfectly with the buy-and-hold philosophy. Investing in these companies with a long-term mindset, perhaps even using a dollar-cost averaging strategy, could lay a strong foundation for significant wealth creation over the next decade.
