Many growth-oriented investors flock to the tech sector in search of the next millionaire-maker stocks. But for a stock to churn $10,000 in $1 million, it would need to deliver a 100-bagger gain. Most hot stocks will fail to achieve those kind of life-changing gains, even if they consistently stay ahead of the S&P 500 and Nasdaq.
It's tough to predict which tech stocks will be the next to generate millionaire-making gains. But to see what qualities those candidates might share, we should look back at three tech stocks that minted millionaires over the past few decades: ASML(NASDAQ: ASML), Broadcom(NASDAQ: AVGO), and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN).
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ASML
ASML is the world's top producer of lithography systems, which are used to optically etch circuit patterns onto silicon wafers. All of the world's top foundries, including Taiwan Semiconductor(NYSE: TSM) and Samsung, use its systems to manufacture their chips.
ASML, which is based in the Netherlands, listed its American depositary receipts in the U.S. on March 15, 1995. A $10,000 investment in its IPO would be worth about $4.04 million today and paying out nearly $43,300 in annual dividends.
From 1995 to 2024, ASML's revenue grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16%. During those three decades, it pulled far ahead of its smaller competitors as the world's largest producer of deep ultraviolet systems. It also became the only producer of high-end extreme ultraviolet systems, which are required to manufacture the world's smallest, densest, and most power-efficient chips.
ASML's monopolization of that crucial market made it a linchpin of the semiconductor market. It faces some near-term challenges from tighter export curbs against China and tariffs, but it still has plenty of room to grow over the next few decades.
Broadcom
Broadcom, which was known as Avago until it acquired the original Broadcom and inherited its brand in 2016, is another millionaire-maker semiconductor stock. A $10,000 investment in Avago when it went public on Aug. 6, 2009, would be worth $1.23 million today and generating about $16,300 in annual dividends as the "new" Broadcom.
Avago's takeover of the original Broadcom made it one of the world's largest producers of chips for the mobile device, data center, networking, wireless, storage, and industrial chip markets. But after that acquisition and rebranding, Broadcom expanded into the infrastructure software market by acquiring CA Technologies in 2018, Symantec's enterprise security division in 2019, and the cloud software giant VMware in 2023.
Those acquisitions transformed Broadcom into a diversified tech company, and its annual revenue grew at a CAGR of 27% from fiscal 2009 to fiscal 2024, which ended in November 2024. That rapid expansion indicated that its bold inorganic growth strategies were paying off. Broadcom is also well exposed to the booming AI market: Its sales of networking, optical, and custom accelerator chips for AI-oriented data centers more than tripled in fiscal 2024 and accounted for 24% of its top line.
Amazon
When Amazon went public on May 15, 1997, many investors were skeptical of the e-commerce company's future. It was still deeply unprofitable and it faced tough competition across a fragmented market. However, investors who took a chance on Amazon with a $10,000 investment in its divisive IPO would be sitting on a whopping $25.87 million today.
From 1997 to 2024, Amazon's revenue grew at a CAGR of 36%. That growth was driven by the rapid expansion of its e-commerce marketplace in the U.S. and international markets, the stickiness of its Prime memberships, and the robust growth of its cloud infrastructure platform, Amazon Web Services (AWS). The expansion of AWS's higher-margin business offset the lower margin of its e-commerce business, and its profit soared.
Today, Amazon owns the world's largest e-commerce and cloud infrastructure platforms, and its scale keeps it far ahead of its competitors in both markets. It's still expanding its e-commerce ecosystem with more hardware devices and media services, and it's locking in its cloud customers with a growing number of analytics tools and AI services. Those core growth engines could generate healthy returns for its investors for decades to come.
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John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Leo Sun has positions in ASML and Amazon. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends ASML, Amazon, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. The Motley Fool recommends Broadcom. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
