| Everyone knows the giant companies supporting AI. Nvidia (Nasdaq: NVDA), Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), and Alphabet (Nasdaq: GOOG) are just a few of the household names. At this point, those Mag 7 stocks are crowded trades. To make money from AI, investors have to look in places where most others haven't. Here are three of my favorite stocks to play the AI boom. 1. A Real Estate Play With a 3% Yield and Tons of Land In 1984, the band Alabama sang: "If you're gonna play in Texas You gotta have a fiddle in the band" If you were going to pen a song about Texas today, instead of talking about a fiddle, it might be more appropriate to write about the business climate: "If you're gonna build a data center You gotta have a little bit of land" Or maybe a lot of land. Texas is home to 405 AI data centers, with another 445 under construction. Both figures are the second-most in the country. There are tons of ways to play the AI boom - and it is a boom, with more than 3,000 data centers currently being built nationwide (which represents 75% growth over the 4,000 that are already in operation). One area investors should look at is real estate. Prologis (NYSE: PLD) is a real estate investment trust that owns properties all over the U.S. and Mexico, with many in Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston. It also owns real estate in Georgia and Pennsylvania, two more states that are seeing profound data center growth. Prologis specializes in warehouses and industrial facilities. It also has 5.7 gigawatts of power available and 15,000 acres of development-ready land that could be used for data centers. For example, it has a campus planned in Austin, Texas, that will span 160 acres, feature three data centers and a private substation, and offer 600 megawatts in capability. Prologis just reported full-year earnings a few weeks ago. Revenue climbed 7% to nearly $8.8 billion, and the company leased 228 million square feet in 2025, a four-year high. The stock has a 3% dividend yield and has boosted the payout to shareholders every year since 2014. Over those 12 years, the dividend has climbed from $0.28 to $1.01, rising at a compound annual growth rate of more than 11%. When it comes to AI, you can buy the big players like Nvidia, Microsoft, and Alphabet. But during booms, I prefer the pick-and-shovel companies - the ones who make money no matter which other companies succeed. Companies with land and the ability to construct data centers in desirable locations will have a leg up over their competitors and should be able to print money for years to come. Prologis is a great way to "own" land that will be used for AI. 2. A "Cool" Data Center Pick With a 5.8% Yield Next, let's shift to another asset - one that's just as necessary for data centers as land is, but harder to come by. Water. Data centers have massive cooling needs, and water is the primary resource for cooling them. There are various ways to play this surge in demand, including companies that have water technology systems. But all of those advanced systems still need the raw material. Without the water, those systems are worthless. Gladstone Land (Nasdaq: LAND) owns 110,000 acres of land, much of which is in California and Arizona. Importantly, it owns 55,000 acre-feet of water assets in California. Now, Gladstone primarily owns farms. But that land, especially the land with water rights, is becoming more valuable. The average price per acre in Arizona has swelled to $8,500. In California, it's between $11,000 and $16,000. But elsewhere, as they increasingly seek land with access to water, developers are paying as much as $150,000 to $400,000 per acre. Gladstone has shown a willingness to sell properties for a profit. Last year, it sold several properties, including one that netted a 112% return in less than seven years. Additionally, shareholders get paid a monthly dividend that comes out to an annual yield of 5.8%, so investors can generate solid income while waiting for Gladstone's land to increase in value. The stock is not a direct way to invest in AI, but Gladstone owns two resources that are desperately coveted by the major tech firms that are building AI data centers: land and water. These firms have enormous bank accounts, and they're already writing checks for absurd amounts in order to acquire these kinds of assets. It's likely only a matter of time before Gladstone starts accepting offers. 3. An AI Energy Partner in a Data Center Hotbed Land and water rights will no doubt be important to data center buildouts. But it all starts with energy. Without cheap, reliable energy, data centers don't run - and AI (as well as many other technologies) lies dormant. We're going to need a lot of energy. OpenAI said that in the next eight years, it wants to build 250 gigawatts of new computing power. No big deal - just 20% of all of America's current electricity-generating capacity. The electricity generator to take note of is Black Hills (NYSE: BKH). Based in Rapid City, South Dakota, it serves 1.35 million customers in eight states, including Wyoming, which is becoming a hotbed for data center construction. It is also in the process of acquiring NorthWestern Energy (Nasdaq: NWE), which will add an additional 800,000 customers. Black Hills counts tech giants Microsoft and Meta Platforms (Nasdaq: META) among its data center clients. It will also supply electricity for a new 115-acre data center campus in Cheyenne. The regulatory framework under which Black Hills operates allows it to provide low-cost electricity to data center operators - an important fact considering that the president wants data centers to pay higher prices for electricity. Black Hills also pays a solid 3.9% dividend yield and has raised its dividend every year since 1971. That's an impressive track record. The company just raised its dividend to $0.703 per share. Shareholders of record as of Tuesday, February 17, will receive their dividends on March 1. Black Hills is a great way to generate income while owning a company that feeds the data centers what they're hungry for: energy. Good investing, Marc P.S. If you're looking for the best way to play all three resources that AI needs to operate - land, water, and energy - be sure to check this out... It's one company that dominates in all three areas, and it has a 25-year track record that would make Warren Buffett jealous. Since 2000, its average annual return is a tremendous 29% per year. (And that was mostly before the surge in AI.) Click here for details on what I call "the 29% Account." | 
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