2 AI Stocks, 1 Winner: Which Has More Upside?
Broadcom and Marvell both crushed earnings on the same AI tailwind, but one offers durable cash flow while the other bets everything on optical speed. The gap between them tells you exactly which kind of risk you are actually taking…
Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO | AVGO Price Prediction) and Marvell Technology (NASDAQ:MRVL) both just delivered post-earnings updates that reset expectations for custom AI silicon and networking.
Broadcom posted a record $22.2 billion quarter powered by hyperscaler XPU deals. Marvell answered with $2.418 billion in revenue and a sharply raised outlook. Same end market, very different scale.
Hyperscaler Deals Carry Broadcom. Optics Carry Marvell.
Broadcom’s semiconductor segment reached $15 billion, with AI silicon alone at $10.8 billion, up 143% year on year. Hock Tan said “Demand for XPUs and networking is simply insatiable”, pointing to bookings that exceeded $30 billion in the quarter.
The customer roster now includes multi-generation TPU work with Google, a 1.3 gigawatt deployment tied to OpenAI, and a Meta MTIA program targeting 3 gigawatts through the end of 2028. All of that gigawatt scale has to be powered and cooled by somebody, and we rounded up seven suppliers behind the buildout in a free AI infrastructure report.
Marvell’s story is narrower but sharper. Data center revenue hit $1.83 billion, or 76% of total revenue. Matt Murphy said “Our data center business is on fire”, and lifted fiscal 2028 revenue to roughly $16.5 billion.
The push is optical: 800G and 1.6T interconnects, 51.2T Ethernet switching, and the Celestial AI photonic fabric that a Tier 1 hyperscaler already selected for scale-up XPU networks.
Scale vs. Speed: Two Very Different Bets
| Lens | Broadcom | Marvell |
| Market cap | $1.72T | $194B |
| Next quarter AI/DC growth | AI revenue up over 200% YoY to $16B | Data center up mid-40% YoY |
| Forward P/E | 20 | 58 |
| Core bet | Custom XPUs plus VMware software | Optical interconnect and custom silicon |
Broadcom leans on diversification. VMware added $7.2 billion at a 93% gross margin, and free cash flow reached $10.3 billion.
Marvell is spending to build the future: roughly $1 billion in supplier prepayments this year, plus the Celestial AI, XConn and Polariton deals. Higher risk, higher slope.
What Decides the Next Two Quarters
Broadcom’s Q3 earnings report lands Wednesday, September 2, 2026, and visibility already runs all the way to 2028. The AVGO share price is a wrinkle: shares closed at $362.48, down 12.88% in a week, while sentiment sits at a neutral 42.98.
For Marvell, at $237.27 and up 179.61% year to date, the test is execution on the new Tier 1 XPU program and the path to over $10 billion in fiscal 2029 custom revenue.
Durable Cash Flow vs. Maximum AI Torque
On the fundamentals, Broadcom screens as the more durable of the two. The mix of VMware cash flow, a $2.54 dividend, and locked-in gigawatt commitments frames the recent pullback as a re-rating. Analysts still carry a target of $527.88, which frames the upside case.
If you want maximum torque to AI networking, Marvell is the sharper instrument. Growth is accelerating, but a 57 forward P/E, 2.246 beta, and a bearish sentiment score of 34 mean any hyperscaler order slip would sting. The setup argues for a smaller position and continued volatility.
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Vandita Jadeja is a financial publisher with over a decade of experience writing about financial topics, including investment, savings, retirement, insurance and banking. Vandita is a Chartered Accountant who loves to debunk financial concepts for readers.
Her work has appeared on sites that include The Motley Fool, InvestorPlace, and Benzinga. She covers investing and focuses on stock picks and price prediction for 24/7 Wall St.
When not looking for the next stock investment opportunity, she can be found traveling, reading, chasing sunsets and enjoying her iced latte.
