China is making significant strides in integrating artificial intelligence in its economy. Laying out its major policy priorities for 2025 at an annual parliamentary meeting on March 5th, it discussed how it plans to spur consumption and achieve technological breakthroughs.
Premier Li Qiang’s government work report said that AI would be integrated into the country’s manufacturing base, and that the country pledges to accelerate artificial intelligence development in the country, as per Reuters.
READ NOW: 10 AI Stocks Making Big Moves Today and 12 AI Stocks Making Headlines: Latest News and Ratings
The plans involve a broader deployment of large language models and leveraging China’s industrial strengths to expand AI applications. Embodied intelligence – the technology underlying humanoid robots, was also highlighted as a key industry of the future.
Chinese AI startup DeepSeek sent shock waves through the global tech market ahead of the Lunar New Year, but has also sparked a rise of Chinese companies in artificial intelligence (AI).
“DeepSeek adheres to an open-source approach and promotes the widespread application of AI technology globally, which contributes Chinese wisdom to the world. Through the rise of companies like DeepSeek, we can see the innovation and inclusiveness of China’s technological development”
-Lou Qinjian, Spokesperson for China’s parliament.
Ever since its rise, President Xi Jinping has been encouraging tech leaders to pursue AI efforts. China intends to foster more technological breakthroughs and become more self-reliant. The country has said that it wants to foster “industries of the future” including biomanufacturing, quantum technology, embodied AI and 6G technology.
In this regard, it will also explore new models for national laboratories and extend strong support and “important responsibilities” to young scientists and engineers. The application of large-scale AI models and the development of next-generation intelligent terminals and smart manufacturing terminals will also be reinforced.
“China will strive to create an enabling environment for innovation that encourages exploration and tolerates failure.”
For this article, we selected AI stocks by going through news articles, stock analysis, and press releases. These stocks are also popular among hedge funds. The hedge fund data is as of Q4 2024.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
A financial advisor consulting with investors on their portfolio in a large boardroom.
10. Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 63
Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) is a leading provider of artificial intelligence systems. On March 5th, William Blair upgraded the stock to “Market Perform” from Underperform without a price target. According to the firm, the upgrade follows the 33% “DOGE-driven selloff” in the shares from $125 to $84 over the past three weeks.
“We are upgrading our rating on shares of Palantir to Market Perform after the 33% DOGE-driven selloff from $125 to $84 over the past three weeks. While valuation is still frothy with potential downside risk of greater than 40% on government contract delays, there have been positive developments.”
-William Blair analysts led by Louie DiPalma.
The firm anticipates Palantir to win a new contract with the U.S. government. The contract will implement a centralized payment tracking system to assist in overall cost-cutting strategies and the Department of Defense’s annual audit. Palantir is also pursuing additional contracts with the U.S. Army.
“Its combination of revenue growth (31% guidance for 2025) and operating margin (45% for 2025) rank among the highest in all software. With the focus on growth, we did not fully appreciate Palantir’s operating leverage and ability to grow with minimal hiring. Palantir’s revenue from 2022 through 2024 grew 50% while headcount increased by only 3%.”
9. CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 77
CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD) is a leader in AI-driven endpoint and cloud workload protection. On March 5th, KeyBanc analyst Eric Heath lowered the firm’s price target on the stock to $450 from $480 but kept an “Overweight” rating on the shares. According to Heath, Crowdstrike has delivered a “solid quarter”, with sequential growth in NNARR almost as strong as last year. CCP offers are being terminated, and the July outage is several quarters behind now.
CCP, or Customer Commitment Packages, were being offered to customers after the July 19 outage incident in 2024 as an incentive to retain customers. Since the incident impact has diminished, the company has decided to terminate the program. The analyst further noted how fiscal 2026 revenue guidance was above expectations, but the margin outlook was lower “due to investments in platform resiliency, AI efficiencies, S&M costs stemming from CCPs, and increased marketing costs”. The firm anticipates NNARR to reaccelerate in the back half of fiscal 2026 and accelerate further in fiscal 2027.
