Nvidia, which pioneered the artificial intelligence (AI) accelerator chip space, has been one of the top performing stocks on the market in the past three years, delivering gains of more than 1,200% on the back of the remarkably strong demand for its graphics processing units (GPUs), which are widely used for training AI models and running inference applications.
That’s why Nvidia’s returns of 32% so far in 2025 may appear lukewarm to investors. After all, with a market cap in excess of $4.3 trillion, it is now the world’s largest company. So, expecting Nvidia to replicate the eye-popping returns that it has clocked in recent years isn’t reasonable, especially considering that its growth rate, though healthy, is relatively slower than it was before.
However, there are smaller companies out there capitalizing on the fast-growing demand for AI hardware that can still deliver phenomenal returns to investors. One of these is Cloudflare (NYSE: NET), which has significantly outperformed Nvidia so far this year — it’s up by a remarkable 110% — and has the potential to fly higher.