The talks around artificial intelligence (AI) never get old. Earlier, these talks were futuristic, and now they are the present, and how it is shaping the next five years. While you can spend an eternity talking about the possibilities of AI, we are here to talk about how AI can make you the next big buck. With AI taking away jobs, it is time to change your point of view and make AI work for you rather than replace you. How can you do that? Through passive income.
Source: Getty Images
How to invest in AI without buying tech stocks
The real growth lies in tech, be it semiconductors, data centres, or AI applications. These stocks can give you growth through share price appreciation. However, energy and utility stocks can give you regular income.
AI energy stocks
The significant investment in AI data centres that drove Nvidia and Broadcom stocks between November 2022 and November 2025 will now shift to data centre operations. AI data centres consume a massive amount of electricity, and building several such data centres will drive demand for electricity. Goldman Sachs Research expects global power demand from data centres to increase by 50% by 2027 and by as much as 165% by 2030, compared with 2023.
Most of this demand will be met by natural gas-fired power plants as they are faster and cheaper to build. A gas-fired power plant takes three to four years to expand and five to seven years to build from scratch.
Capital Power
Capital Power (TSX:CPX) develops, acquires, owns, and operates power generation facilities. It has 25 gigawatts of project pipeline, of which the majority is through acquisition and development. The company has set a target to grow megawatts and margins by 2030. It aims to grow its adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) at a compounded annual growth rate of 8-10%. It aims to grow its dividend by 2-4% and maintain a dividend payout ratio of 30-50% through 2030.
Capital Power stock has surged 68% since April 2024, when the AI infrastructure boom started driving energy demand. There is more upside as many new AI data centres come online.
TC Energy
TC Energy (TSX:TRP) will benefit from growing demand for liquified natural gas (LNG) in the United States and Europe. The company recorded its highest delivery across its U.S. and Canadian Natural Gas Pipeline Systems of 39.9 billion cubic feet (Bcf) and 33.2 Bcf, respectively. The demand was driven by record power demand from data centres, coal-to-gas conversions, and LNG exports.
TC Energy stock has surged 65% since mid-2024 and could continue to grow till 2030 on the back of AI energy demand and LNG exports.
Note that the above energy stocks are regular quarterly dividend payers and have been growing their dividends by 6% and 3%, respectively. Moreover, they offer a dividend-reinvestment plan (DRIP). Investing in their DRIP option can help you build a passive-income pool while your invested money powers AI, literally.
AI telecommunication stocks
An AI data centre will process and store data. However, for this data to reach the end user needs a strong internet connection with low latency. Moreover, the growing adoption of AI in everyday work will lead to a growing demand for secure, high-speed internet in connected devices such as cars.
The broadband connectivity will be provided by Canada’s two large telecom companies, Telus and BCE (TSX:BCE). BCE is offering enterprise AI solutions through Ateko, Bell Cyber, and Bell AI Fabric, Canada’s full-stack sovereign AI platform. It expects to earn $1.5 billion in AI revenue by 2028. This amount makes up for just 6% of its 2025 revenue of $24.4 billion, as its core revenue will come from telecom and communication systems. Even Telus has merged its digital solutions business that offers AI services. They both offer quarterly dividends and a DRIP option.
