Many artificial intelligence (AI) stocks have taken off this year, rebounding strongly from early-year weakness. Still, there has been differentiation among AI beneficiaries. For instance, companies that have inked deals with current leader OpenAI, such as Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) and Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO), have soared. Meanwhile, those perceived to be on the outside of OpenAI and its immediate suppliers have lagged.

Yet, while investors have bid up recent outperformers to stratospheric valuations, we’re really just in the second inning of the artificial intelligence revolution. That means certain stocks that have sold off for short-term reasons this summer could be excellent pickups to ride the AI wave, as long as they find their place in this ongoing paradigm shift. In that light, the following three look like strong buys on weakness.

Super Micro Computer

Super Micro Computer (SMCI 2.50%) has been on a roller-coaster ride over the past year, crashing after its accounting firm quit last October, only to recover strongly after its new accountant gave the thumbs-up to its books in February.

However, Supermicro’s stock sold off after its recent earnings report, which underwhelmed on both the top and bottom lines. Supermicro said that its customers were a bit slow in making architectural decisions, while tariffs and write-downs on old inventory pressured gross margins.

But there could be better things on the horizon. Supermicro still grew revenue 47% in the fiscal year ending in June and forecasted at least 50% revenue growth in fiscal 2026. Supermicro management also said it expects to increase its large-scale data center customers from four to between six and eight in fiscal 2026. That could be a good thing for customer diversification.

Meanwhile, Supermicro is just ramping up its data center building block solutions (DCBBS), wherein the company will install not just server racks but also an entire data center in turnkey fashion, greatly speeding up deployment. Those efforts should help margins grow back toward the company’s old range of between 14% and 17%, up from 11.2% in the latest fiscal year, even if those margins don’t get all the way there in 2026.

In any case, Supermicro has sold off to a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of just 16 after the sell-off. Given the exceptionally strong longer-term guide for AI infrastructure growth provided by Oracle and others recently, that still seems like a low price to pay for a leading AI hardware player growing that quickly.

Applied Materials

Like Super Micro, Applied Materials (AMAT -1.21%) sold off after its own recent earnings release. While Applied beat revenue and earnings estimates for its third quarter, which ended July 27, management forecasted a slight revenue and earnings decline in the current quarter. Management attributed the downturn to “digestion” in China, as well as “uneven” ramps in leading-edge logic.

While that may seem worrisome, the reasons given seem reasonable. Applied’s results actually held up better than some peers during the post-pandemic downturn in semiconductors, so it may make sense that there is a little air pocket today.

And while the leading-edge logic fab buildout may be uneven, the rise of artificial intelligence should bolster growth over the medium term. Oracle forecasts robust AI data center growth through 2030, and all those data centers will need lots of chips.

Applied is the most diverse semiconductor equipment supplier, so it should get a solid piece of that growing pie. Its equipment is concentrated in etch and deposition machines, which should see better-than-average growth over the next few years as chipmakers begin to implement new innovations such as gate-all-around transistors, backside power, and 3D architectures for both DRAM and logic chips, all of which are etch- and deposition-intensive.

Applied now trades at just 20 times earnings and 17 times next year’s estimates, which are below-market multiples. That seems absurdly cheap for a high-margin, cash-generating tech leader that should benefit from AI growth. Fortunately, Applied has rewarded shareholders with consistent share repurchases and a growing dividend, and that should continue going forward, even if the company has an off quarter here and there.

Intel

Finally, perhaps no tech company has been as maligned over the past few years as Intel (INTC -2.15%). After falling behind Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE: TSM) in process technology and failing to anticipate the AI revolution, Intel spent the last four years on a spending spree in an attempt to catch up. That spending has added to Intel’s debt load and degraded its cash flow, while a lot of the fruits of that spending have not yet emerged.

Still, Intel recruited former board member and Cadence Design Systems (NASDAQ: CDNS) CEO Lip-Bu Tan as its new CEO, who is just a matter of months into his turnaround plan. Tan has unmatched experience and contacts within the semiconductor industry and seems like an ideal candidate to lead Intel at this stage.

Tan has made waves, cutting a massive amount of costs and restructuring the company. At a recent conference, CFO David Zinsner said Tan has already reduced management layers at the company from 11 to five. Meanwhile, Tan has also refreshed much of Intel’s leadership. In June, Tan promoted a new chief revenue officer and brought in several outside engineering leaders to lead Intel’s AI chip efforts.

At a recent industry conference, CFO David Zinsner stated that Tan would be laying out the company’s new AI roadmap soon. Then just last week, Tan named new heads of client and data center chip groups, completing his refreshment of Intel’s senior leadership. Given Tan’s wide experience as head of Cadence and his venture capital firm Walden Capital, which invests in AI start-ups, this new leadership is likely to strengthen Intel’s product portfolio.

Meanwhile, Intel’s first chip on its important 18A node will make its debut later this year, which management believes will give Intel equal or better technology than TSMC. And with the U.S. government recently taking a stake in the company and Tan having deep industry relationships, it seems likely Intel will land more external customers for its foundry, which will be another key to its success.

And yet, Intel trades just a touch above book value. But given that Tan is early in his transformation plan and the 18A node is just about to hit late this year, the stock is a great-looking risk-reward at these levels.

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