In this article, we discuss the top 10 trending AI news and ratings.
New AI Models from China Challenge US Dominance
According to a CNBC report, China-based AI lab DeepSeek has sparked concern in Silicon Valley by releasing AI models that outperform leading U.S. systems despite using cheaper methods and less-powerful Nvidia H800 chips. In December 2024, DeepSeek launched a free open-source model developed in two months for under $6 million, which surpassed Meta’s Llama 3.1, OpenAI’s GPT-4o, and Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet 3.5 in benchmark tests. Its latest model, r1, also outperformed OpenAI’s o1 in reasoning tasks, the report states.
DeepSeek’s advancements, achieved despite U.S. semiconductor restrictions, raise questions about America’s AI dominance and the efficiency of large-scale AI investments. Experts attribute their success to techniques like distillation, which optimize smaller models using larger ones, as per CNBC.
READ ALSO: 10 Important AI News on Investor Radars and 10 AI News You Should Definitely Take a Look At.
U.S. Pushes for Global AI Leadership with Policy Changes
As China challenges US dominance, the new US President, Donald Trump is also making announcements to keep the US as the global AI leader. Apart from the announcement of the $500 billion Stargate Project, President Trump also signed an executive order aimed at removing AI-related policies introduced during the Biden Administration, which he claims restricted innovation through excessive government control.
The new order repeals Biden’s AI regulations and instructs agencies to revise policies that may hinder AI advancements. It also emphasizes the need for the U.S. to maintain global leadership in AI, focusing on national security, economic growth, and unbiased AI development. The order includes creating an AI Action Plan and revising federal AI governance guidelines. It builds on the president’s previous initiatives, such as increasing AI research funding, establishing AI research institutes, and issuing guidance for AI standards and federal adoption.
For this article, we selected AI stocks by reviewing news articles, stock analysis, and press releases. We listed the stocks in ascending order of their hedge fund sentiment taken from Insider Monkey’s database of 900 hedge funds.
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 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
Top 10 Trendin AI News and Ratings
10. Oklo Inc. (NYSE:OKLO)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: N/A
Oklo Inc. (NYSE:OKLO) focuses on creating advanced nuclear power plants designed to reuse nuclear waste, delivering clean and dependable energy. Its approach supports sustainable energy solutions, addressing the growing power needs of AI.
On January 24, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives raised Oklo’s price target from $26 to $45 while maintaining an Outperform due to growing confidence in the AI-driven data center expansion. Ives pointed to Project Stargate as part of a larger AI initiative, with nuclear energy expected to play a crucial role in supporting these data centers. Oklo is seen as a significant player in this development. Ives wrote:
“We are raising our price target on OKLO as our confidence in the AI Revolution datacenter buildout is increasing under the Trump Administration… Oklo is set to be a major player along with Altman’s key AI role looking ahead in our view.”
9. Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 28
Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) develops and provides enterprise software solutions, including AI-powered decision engines, automation tools, and customer engagement platforms. On January 24, Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives increased Pegasystems’ (NASDAQ:PEGA) price target from $100 to $125 and kept an Outperform rating. The firm sees Pegasystems as a growing AI company, helping businesses make the most of their AI investments by automating tasks, speeding up implementation, and improving sales cycles. New features are expected to boost the company’s value for current customers.
8. Oshkosh Corporation (NYSE:OSK)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 33
Oshkosh Corporation (NYSE:OSK) specializes in creating custom-designed vehicles for construction, defense, and vocational industries, with its products enabling AI-based applications in industrial, defense, and emergency response fields.
On January 22, Oshkosh Corporation was recognized with a CES Picks Award for its HAIL-E autonomous refuse collection robot, which marked a significant step in transforming waste management. HAIL-E is an electric, AI-powered robot that autonomously collects trash and returns to a central area using a smartphone app or voice assistant. It was developed by Oshkosh’s Pratt Miller unit.
The robot complements traditional waste services and improves logistics in modern communities. Oshkosh also introduced several electrification, AI, and autonomy solutions, such as an all-electric refuse vehicle, collision mitigation systems for emergency vehicles, and self-driving technology for airports.
7. NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 49
NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) provides energy production, home services, and energy management solutions across the U.S. and Canada.
On January 21, Evercore ISI analyst Durgesh Chopra upgraded NRG (NYSE:NRG) to Outperform from In Line, raising the price target to $126 from $74. The firm remains optimistic about the power and utilities sector as it stated factors like moderating inflation, potential interest rate cuts, and rising electricity demand as the main drivers for outperformance in the first half of 2025. The analyst expects strong investment in utility infrastructure, especially from data centers, and expects more deals and announcements in 2025. Evercore upgraded four stocks after releasing its 2024 earnings forecasts.
6. Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 52
Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) delivers data center solutions that enable secure and efficient access to global networks. Scotiabank analyst Maher Yaghi raised the price target for Digital Realty (NYSE:DLR) to $208 from $178, maintaining a Sector Perform rating. The firm updated its earnings forecasts for companies in the TMT Infrastructure sector, expressing optimism about data center stocks while staying neutral on tower operators. Scotiabank expects strong growth in data center activity for 2025 and anticipates continued success in core leasing and capacity expansion. The analyst believes Digital Realty is well-positioned to sustain its momentum.
5. Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 54
Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) uses its artificial intelligence expertise to drive innovation across several industries. TipRanks reported on January 24 that Benchmark analyst Fawne Jiang maintained a Buy rating on Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) with a price target of $130. Despite a challenging FY24 due to macroeconomic factors and the impact of GenAI content on its core advertising business, Jiang expects a rebound in the company’s ad revenue by late 4Q24 or early 1Q25, with AI search potentially boosting performance in FY25.
Baidu’s valuation remains attractive, trading at a forward P/E of around 2.5x, excluding cash. Jiang highlighted the company’s international expansion potential and progress in the Robotaxi sector, despite competition from Tesla and Waymo, and views the risk/reward profile as favorable.
4. QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 74
QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) focuses on wireless communication technologies, with significant investments in AI, 5G, and IoT applications.
On January 22, it was announced that Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips power Samsung’s new Galaxy S25 smartphones, showing a significant shift as Samsung moves away from its Exynos chips. The S25 series features Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Mobile Platform across all models and is equipped with advanced AI capabilities powered by Google’s Gemini AI engine and Samsung’s own Bixby assistant.
The partnership highlights Qualcomm’s strong position in the mobile processor market as it continues to lead the way in AI integration. Samsung’s decision to adopt Qualcomm’s chips for the S25 series comes during increasing competition in the premium smartphone segment and as Qualcomm solidifies its role in driving next-generation mobile experiences.
3. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 107
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) designs semiconductors, offering processors and graphics solutions for gaming, data centers, and embedded systems, with a focus on high-performance computing for AI applications.
On January 24, AMD shared excitement in a post on X where it highlighted the integration of DeepSeek-V3 on the AMD Instinct MI300X GPUs, optimized specifically for AI inferencing. Earlier on January 7, AMD announced the integration of the new DeepSeek-V3 model on AMD Instinct GPUs, optimized for performance with SGLang. DeepSeek-V3, a multimodal AI model, features advanced capabilities for processing both text and visual data and is powered by the Mixture-of-Experts architecture and Multi-head Latent Attention techniques. The integration uses AMD ROCm software and FP8 support to improve performance and efficiency during AI model training and inference.
2. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 279
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) focuses on AI by offering cutting-edge cloud services, AI-driven business solutions, and advanced technologies in language processing and computing.
On January 22, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) launched an AI for Good Open Call, offering $5 million in grants to organizations in Washington state to tackle major social and scientific issues using AI. Eligible participants, including nonprofits, businesses, and academic institutions, are invited to apply with projects focused on sustainability, public health, education, or human rights.
The program is part of Microsoft’s 50th anniversary celebration and aims to foster local innovation. Successful applicants will need to present scalable solutions backed by high-quality, unbiased data. The application deadline is February 17, 2025, with selections announced by March 18, 2025.
1. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 286
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) uses AI to improve its shopping platform, entertainment offerings, and operational processes, while further advancing AI through investments in initiatives like Anthropic, AWS collaborations, and Tranium.
On January 24, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Booz Allen Hamilton expanded their partnership to improve technology solutions for U.S. federal agencies. The collaboration focuses on accelerating digital transformation through reusable solutions for cloud migration, cybersecurity, and generative AI. By combining Booz Allen’s expertise with AWS’s cloud infrastructure, the partnership aims to modernize IT systems, strengthen security, and improve mission readiness. Agencies can also benefit from AWS migration resources and tools, supporting critical operations like those in the Indo-Pacific region.
While we acknowledge the potential of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than AMZN 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 Complete List of 59 AI Companies Under $2 Billion in Market Cap.
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