Once a niche concept, generative artificial intelligence has become an essential tool in various industries. The revolutionary technology is transforming healthcare, agriculture and the auto industry while also giving rise to game-changing innovation in the tech industry. Likewise, a study by Grand View Research indicates the global artificial intelligence market is poised to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 36.6% to $1.81 trillion between 2024 and 2030.
Breakthrough innovations, bullish investments, and increasing adoption across industries are catalysts fueling robust growth. Furthermore, the progress made in artificial neural networks (ANN) has dramatically enhanced the integration and utilization of artificial intelligence across various industries.
The diverse applications of ANNs, such as image recognition, natural language processing, predictive modeling, autonomous driving, and healthcare diagnostics, have been driving market expansion. For example, auto companies are employing ANN to refine autonomous driving functionalities, focusing on object detection, path planning, and decision-making processes.
The growing accessibility and availability of historical datasets have also accelerated the pace of advancements in artificial intelligence. Now, more unstructured datasets are available to researchers thanks to the development of cloud computing. Furthermore, as AI advances with each iteration, innovation has been spurred by the potential of next-generation computing power.
Amid the robust growth and game-changing innovations, artificial intelligence has become a key technology battleground between the US and China. The emergence of breathtaking AI models from China, such as DeepSeek, has once again underscored how nations are racing to challenge the US regarding AI dominance.
The enduring geopolitical rivalry and economic competition between China and the United States began to extend into artificial intelligence approximately ten years ago. However, this competition has significantly escalated with the swift rise of DeepSeek and other Chinese generative AI companies. The recent achievements of these Chinese firms have also prompted inquiries regarding the efficacy of strategies like export controls in curbing the technological advancements of foreign adversaries.
“China’s been doing AI for a very long time … and is probably just as good as the US or anybody else. It’s as simple as that,” said Alan Pelz-Sharpe, founder of AI analyst firm Deep Analysis.
China’s leading entrepreneurs and company executives, including the founders of DeepSeek and a robotics startup, have already held discussions with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The discussions concerned maintaining a sense of national duty as they advance their technological initiatives. This gathering highlights China’s strategic preparations to compete with the United States in a technology sector expected to drive the next industrial revolution.
Furthermore, China has announced its commitment to nurturing emerging technologies, particularly open-source architectures for chip design. For years, China has sought to establish a semiconductor ecosystem centered around RISC-V, a significant open-source architecture, in an effort to diminish its dependence on technologies dominated by the United States.
On the other hand, the United States is shifting from close research collaboration with China towards a military competition likely to diminish or terminate cooperation, according to Jennifer Lind, an associate professor of government at Dartmouth College. While tensions with China began to escalate during former President Barack Obama’s tenure due to the increasing assertiveness of the Chinese government, Lind anticipates that the relationship will deteriorate further under President Trump as both nations compete in technological advancements.
A financial broker at a computer station, working diligently on a stock exchange.
Our Methodology
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 in 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).
9. VEON Ltd. (NASDAQ:VEON)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 8
VEON Ltd. (NASDAQ:VEON) is a communication services provider that offers connectivity and internet services to corporations and individuals. It provides fixed-line broadband services using fiber optic networks and mobile telecommunications services under prepaid and postpaid subscriptions. On March 4, the company confirmed that its digital operator in Uzbekistan, Beeline Uzbekistan, is teaming up with P.I. Works, a global leader in AI-driven network automation.
The two are joining forces to enhance the deployment of customer experience management with predictive analytics. P.I. Works is to help Beeline Uzbekistan enhance service quality and proactively resolve network problems to improve customer satisfaction. With pinpoint accuracy of less than 100 meters, P.I. Works’ AI-driven method detects performance degradation using network system data and geo-location information. With the help of hyper-local insights, Beeline Uzbekistan will identify at-risk customers and take targeted corrective action before their discontent escalates into churn.
“This collaboration is a strong example of how mobile operators can leverage network AI and automation to enhance customer retention, maximize revenue, and strengthen brand loyalty,” said Başar Akpınar, CEO & Co-Founder of P.I. Works.
