We recently compiled a list of the 10 AI Stocks Trending On Wall Street Right Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) stands against the other AI stocks.
Determined to lead the AI frontier, China is deploying every resource at its disposal and mobilizing every tool in its arsenal. In the latest news, Reuters has reported how the country is now planning to expand its undergraduate enrollments to prioritize what it called “national strategic needs” and develop talent in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI).
Several of China’s top public universities have announced these plans of expansion following the launch of artificial intelligence courses in February. The country recently experienced a “Sputnik moment” after an AI startup from within the country, DeepSeek, launched a cheaper and more efficient AI model which it claimed outperforms its Western counterparts.
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According to analysts, DeepSeek’s success is largely backed by researchers from elite domestic universities. This fact reflects how Beijing’s investment in building a large homegrown STEM talent pool and recent U.S. restrictions on Chinese student visas have enabled the country to catch up on the AI race.
“Scientific and technological innovation has contributed to China’s economic growth, with investment in high-tech industries increasing by 11.1 percent year-on-year from January to October 2022”.
– A report by People’s Daily
Innovation has also opened up new areas for China’s economic development, such as renewable energy vehicles, lithium batteries, and photovoltaic products. The country’s scientific and technological innovations have helped it garner global attention, and it looks like it is neck to neck in competition with its competitor, the United States.
Noting the country’s need for further advancement, Peking University recently said it would add 150 undergraduate spots in 2025, focusing on areas of “national strategic importance”, fundamental disciplines and “emerging frontier fields”. Meanwhile, Renmin University said it would add more than 100 places in areas such as AI to improve innovation.
Shanghai Jiao Tong University will also be adding 150 spots concentrating on “cutting-edge technologies” and emerging industries “urgently needed”, in AI, integrated circuits, biomedicine, healthcare and new energy.
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 development team working together to create the next version of Windows.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 317
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) provides AI-powered cloud, productivity, and business solutions, focusing on efficiency, security, and AI advancements. On March 7, the company announced a strategic shift in its data center strategy driven by power availability rather than user demand or creating supply. The company calls it a “power first” approach, in which affordable and emission-free power supply is a decisive factor driving investment. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is considering the Nordic region as a prime location for emission-free capacity to sustain artificial intelligence.
The company is particularly eyeing Finland due to the region’s cold climate that helps cool data centers, reliable power grids and abundant availability of carbon-neutral power, amongst other factors. Intending to become carbon-negative by 2030, the company needs to find emission-free renewable power that will help it sustain the AI-driven expansion of its cloud-based data storage and usage. According to Alistair Speirs, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s senior director for Datacentre & AI Infrastructure, Microsoft’s global expansion in the use of artificial intelligence has been creating new workloads that are not tied to a specific location by legislation, allowing the company to build data centers with an abundance of emission-free power.
“There’ll be locations across the world but efficient energy infrastructure is going to be the deciding factor for a lot of these areas.”
Currently, the company is building a dozen new data centres on three sites in Finland and has partnered with local district heating producers, such as utility Fortum.
Overall MSFT ranks 1st on our list of the AI stocks that are trending on Wall Street right now. While we acknowledge the potential of MSFT as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than MSFT but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
