Artificial intelligence (AI) has been a lucrative opportunity for early investors. Nvidia became the world's most valuable publicly traded company due to its AI chips, and ever since that surge, investors have been looking for the next big AI stock.

Investors with $1,000 ready to allocate to assets may want to consider these two growth stocks that are at the center of the AI data center build-out.

1. Iren

As artificial intelligence expands into physical and agentic AI, the demand for physical infrastructure skyrockets. Last year, S&P Global projected 50 gigawatts' worth of AI demand in the U.S. by 2030. McKinsey went even further, estimating 156 gigawatts of global AI capacity demand by 2030.

Expand NASDAQ : IREN Iren Premium Feature Moneyball Superscore 68 /100 Today's Change ( 2.73 %) $ 1.11 Current Price $ 41.76 Key Data Points Market Cap $16B Market cap calculated using publicly traded shares outstanding only. Does not include unlisted, private, or dual-class non-traded shares. Implied market cap may vary. Day's Range $ 40.95 - $ 43.91 52wk Range $ 28.93 - $ 76.87 Volume 41.7M Avg Vol 42.7M Gross Margin 9.84%

It's a major bottleneck with no easy fix. High capital requirements, local opposition, and permits are some of the hurdles that make it harder to build data centers. However, Iren (IREN +2.73%) has been preparing for this moment. It's a former crypto miner, and that crypto infrastructure made it easier for the company to pivot to AI infrastructure when demand soared.

The proof of concept arrived when Microsoft agreed to a five-year deal worth $9.7 billion. It covers 200 megawatts of Iren's Childress facility. Iren delivered the first 50-megawatt installment of that deal in August and is on track to deliver the remaining parts by the end of the year. That's $1.94 billion in annual recurring revenue Iren is about to realize from that site.

Iren's deals have become more lucrative on a per-megawatt basis in recent months. It's signing multiyear deals with enterprises and AI labs to diversify its customer base. Iren expects to exit 2026 with $4 billion in annual recurring revenue.

Customers do not mind making big prepayments, which helps Iren fund most of the data center builds. Iren is in the process of negotiating deals for 2027 and 2028 capacity and has a 5.8-gigawatt portfolio to work with. The company's 2-gigawatt Sweetwater facility recently cleared a key milestone for security base-load power.

Iren expects to deliver the first 300 megawatts of its Sweetwater facility by the fourth quarter of 2027. Under the Microsoft terms of $9.7 million per megawatt per year, Iren could command $2.91 billion per year from the 300-megawatt part of the site. However, the cost of megawatts has risen considerably. Iren now gets more than $20 million per year for a single megawatt. At that rate, an extra 300 megawatts of capacity would produce $6 billion per year.

If the value of a megawatt continues to increase, Iren brings sites online in a timely manner, and the company expands its multigigawatt pipeline, it can become a centerpiece of the AI build-out.

2. Micron

While an investment in Iren requires several years of visibility, Micron (MU -2.05%) is delivering undeniable results right now. Its memory chips have become foundational for artificial intelligence, and despite almost quadrupling year to date, Micron remains one of the most undervalued stocks in the entire market.

Expand NASDAQ : MU Micron Technology Premium Feature Moneyball Superscore 91 /100 Today's Change ( -2.05 %) $ -22.50 Current Price $ 1,074.89 Key Data Points Market Cap $1.2T Market cap calculated using publicly traded shares outstanding only. Does not include unlisted, private, or dual-class non-traded shares. Implied market cap may vary. Day's Range $ 1072.01 - $ 1108.00 52wk Range $ 179.61 - $ 1255.00 Volume 27.3M Avg Vol 33.8M Gross Margin 85.86% Dividend Yield 0.05%

Micron might actually have the best shot at overthrowing Nvidia in terms of market cap, despite the gap between $1.2 trillion and $5.5 trillion. Micron reported $54.2 billion in revenue during its fiscal 2026 fourth quarter. Not only was that a 479% year-over-year improvement, but it's also a 30.8% sequential jump that crushed guidance.

Micron has higher net profit margins than Nvidia and makes more than half of what Nvidia makes. If Micron continues to grow at a faster rate than Nvidia, it has a real opportunity to close the revenue gap and become the world's most valuable publicly traded company.

It's only trading at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 7 and a PEG ratio of 0.16, so there is a lot of room for the growth stock to expand. Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra told investors to expect an "even stronger fiscal 2027," and the company has multiyear strategic customer agreements that make revenue more durable and predictable.

Memory chips are essential for every data center, and Micron has established itself as the leader. Tightening supply of memory chips should keep prices high, especially since tech giants can't seem to get enough of them.