Northland Securities recently issued a rating for a stock amidst the DeepSeek AI frenzy. The firm noted that it isn’t concerned about the AI models just yet and that it doesn’t expect big tech giants to cut their capital expenditures when they report their earnings either. In light of this, the CEOs of tech giants such as Meta and Microsoft have recently defended their massive spending, noting how it was crucial to stay competitive in the new field.
Investors panicked after news spread over the weekend about a Chinese startup DeepSeek having released AI models that were built using less power and chips. In response, executives of tech giants are saying that building huge computer networks has been crucial to serving growing corporate needs. Even then, investors have been losing their patience with the huge amounts of spending and a dearth of hefty payouts.
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DeepSeek has been causing a stir in the AI world and refuted the gap that previously existed between the AI capabilities in China and the US. After the first Chinese version of ChatGPT was released, there was a lot of disappointment in China considering it was not on par with ChatGPT. However, DeepSeek’s AI models have shifted the AI narrative completely.
Not only has it sparked a frenzy in the US, but even its domestic competition has been pressurized. This was made evident when Alibaba released a rival to DeepSeek’s model on the Lunar New Year. According to the company, the “Qwen 2.5-Max outperforms … almost across the board GPT-4o, DeepSeek-V3 and Llama-3.1-405B”. Even though DeepSeek’s AI models have been impressive, there is still skepticism and confusion regarding the demand for high-end AI chips and the need for power to run AI-centric data centers.
“There’s plenty of uncertainty over what the true demand for state-of-the-art chips, semiconductor fabrication plants and energy will be”.
-Economist Ed Yardeni said in a note.
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12. Blaize Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:BZAI)
Blaize Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:BZAI) provides purpose-built, artificial intelligence (“AI”)-enabled edge computing solutions. On January 28, the company revealed its bold vision aimed at transforming real-world applications through advanced AI model efficiency and edge-based solutions. The emergence of the DeepSeek-V3 underscores Blaize’s long-held philosophy that a set of smaller, dynamically executed expert models is better in performance and more efficient than a large, dense model. In Light of this, Blaize’s programmable devices allow computing on less-structured and sparsely accessed data by using low-precision operations.
“As the AI industry shifts from traditional data center processing to more agile and scalable physical world AI applications, Blaize is well-positioned to introduce groundbreaking innovations that address complex challenges in defense, smart cities, emergency response, healthcare, robotics, autonomous systems, and more”.
-Blaize CEO Dinakar Munagala.
11. Guardforce AI Co., Limited (NYSE:GFAI)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 3
Guardforce AI Co., Limited (NYSE:GFAI) is an integrated security, AI, and Robot-as-a-Service (RaaS) provider. The company employs artificial intelligence (AI) in its operations, particularly through robotic solutions and data analysis to enhance security and operational efficiency within their cash management services. On January 28, the company announced that Guardforce Cash Solutions Security (Thailand) Company Limited (“GFCS”), the secured logistic subsidiary of Guardforce AI, has renewed contracts with the Government Savings Bank (GSB) in Thailand. The GSB has been its long-term customer and a trusted partner of Guardforce AI for decades. The renewed agreements will allow GFCS to continue delivering cash center operations and secured logistics services for coins under two three-year multi-million-dollar contracts. GFCS offers services including ATM replenishment, maintenance, and coin services to over 1,000 GSB branches across Thailand, representing over 95% of GSB’s nationwide network.
“These renewals extend our decade-long relationship with GSB and validate our position as Thailand’s premier secured logistics provider. The continued trust of a government-backed institution highlights the reliability and quality of our services on a national level.”
-Kelvin Chu, Managing Director at GFCS.