WANAN YOSSINGKUM
Artificial intelligence is moving from experimentation to large-scale deployment across major industries, accelerating operational efficiencies and reshaping competitive advantages, according to a Morgan Stanley research note released Tuesday.
The report, part of the firm’s “Thematic Alpha” series, highlights a rapid ramp-up in both digital and physical AI adoption, with companies leveraging generative AI, automation and machine learning to optimize supply chains, improve customer service, enhance financial forecasting and speed up research and development.
Morgan Stanley’s latest survey of chief information officers indicates that 60% of chief information officers expect generative AI-based workloads to be in production by the end of 2025, a figure unchanged from earlier this year. Key priorities for these initiatives include internal productivity gains, labor cost savings and customer-facing applications aimed at driving revenue and satisfaction.
“Advances are blurring the lines between digital intelligence and physical execution, and bringing about a new era of operational agility,” analysts led by equity strategist Michelle Weaver wrote, noting that companies are tailoring AI solutions through in-house builds or partnerships, producing measurable gains in speed, accuracy and safety.
The report outlines five categories of AI investment opportunities, ranging from firms with high pricing power and strong AI integration, to those where AI’s effect on earnings is underestimated by the options market.
Among the companies appearing on multiple screens, three names stood out: Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Johnson Controls International (NYSE:JCI). All were identified as high-quality, large-cap adopters with AI playing an increasingly central role in their business strategies.
Other large-scale adopters cited include Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), all of which Morgan Stanley ranks “Overweight” due to their strong positioning as both AI enablers and adopters.
While AI deployment varies by sector (from predictive maintenance in energy, to fraud detection in financial services, to autonomous robots in manufacturing), the bank sees the trend as broad-based and accelerating.
“AI is becoming an important driver of operational efficiency and competitive advantage,” according to Morgan Stanley.