Back in January, DeepSeek sparked a frenzy in the tech landscape with its R1 model, and now it has returned to ignite a debate once again. According to the AI startup, it spent $294,000 on training its R1 model, a figure much lower than those reported for U.S. rivals.
The figure is the first estimate that DeepSeek has revealed in a peer-reviewed article in the academic journal Nature. Previously, the company’s AI models, boasting more efficiency and cost effectiveness, had led investors to dump tech stocks amid fears that they will no longer dominate.
However, the company since disappeared from the public eye and appears only when it launches product updates. The Nature article has revealed that DeepSeek’s reasoning-focused R1 model cost $294,000 to train and used 512 Nvidia H800 chips.
The company has acknowledged that it owns A100 chips and had used them in preparatory stages of development.
“Regarding our research on DeepSeek-R1, we utilized the A100 GPUs to prepare for the experiments with a smaller model. After this initial phase, R1 was trained for a total of 80 hours on the 512 chip-cluster of H800 chips.”
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 Q2 2025.
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10. CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 66
CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD) is one of the 10 AI Stocks Analysts Are Tracking Closely. On September 18, Morgan Stanley analyst Keith Weiss raised the firm’s price target on the stock to $475 from $460 and kept an Equal Weight rating on the shares.
The rating affirmation follows the Fal.Con User Conference and investor briefing held in Las Vegas on Wednesday. Crowdstrike’s Analyst Day focused on the increasing benefits of platformization, particularly now that artificial intelligence is also increasing risks for customers.
Analyst Keith Weiss noted that CrowdStrike projected a net new annual recurring revenue (ARR) growth of greater than 20% in fiscal year 2027. Meanwhile, its target of $20 billion in ARR by fiscal year 2036 represents more than four times its current level. These targets have been “most incrementally positive,” noted the analysts.
CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD) is a leader in AI-driven endpoint and cloud workload protection.
9. ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 78
ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) is one of the 10 AI Stocks Analysts Are Tracking Closely. On September 18, BofA Securities analyst Didier Scemama raised the price target on the stock to EUR941.00 (from EUR724.00) and kept a Buy rating on the shares.
The rating follows Nvidia’s announcement of a broad partnership with Intel, including a $5 billion investment in the struggling US chipmaker.
In an investor note, the analysts highlighted how a potentially more competitive Intel in both datacenters and PCs should be positive for Semicaps such as ASML. Semiconductor capital equipment providers like itself offer critical lithography systems used in chip manufacturing.
ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) develops and sells advanced semiconductor equipment, including lithography, metrology, and inspection systems for chip manufacturing.
8. Arista Networks Inc (NYSE:ANET)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 81
Arista Networks Inc (NYSE:ANET) is one of the 10 AI Stocks Analysts Are Tracking Closely. On September 16, Needham raised its price target on the stock to $160.00 from $155.00 while maintaining a Buy rating. The rating affirmation follows Arista’s Analyst Day presentation held on September 11.
According to the firm, management used the opportunity to highlight new Cloud/AI capabilities targeting both White Box and Nvidia, as well as fresh investments in Enterprise Campus aimed directly at challenging Cisco.
Needham expressed optimism regarding Arista’s recent senior management hires, deeming them as having the potential to carry the rate of change needed to expand its market position.
Based on the firm’s proprietary research, it has been confirmed that Arista is now a major new supplier to AI company Anthropic in 2025. The deal is anticipated to contribute substantial revenue in 2026.
Arista Networks Inc (NYSE:ANET) develops, markets, and sells cloud networking solutions.
7. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 82
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is one of the 10 AI Stocks Analysts Are Tracking Closely. On September 18, NVIDIA and Intel Corporation announced a collaboration to jointly develop multiple generations of custom data center and PC products. Nvidia said that it will invest $5 billion in the struggling US chipmaker.
“This is a game changer deal for Intel as it now brings them front and center into the AI game. Along with the recent US Government investment for 10% this has been a golden few weeks for Intel after years of pain and frustration for investors.”
“The companies are incrementally focused on connecting NVDA and INTC architectures, leveraging NVDA’s AI strength and accelerated computing with Intel’s CPU tech ecosystem for improved technological solutions for its customers.”
“While not announcing a specific timeline for when these parts go on sale, this announcement does not impact the individual growth strategies of NVDA and INTC moving forward as both companies look to capitalize on growing demand for CPUs and GPUs within the AI Revolution,” he added.
-Wedbush analysts, led by Daniel Ives.
The firm believes that the announcement has transformed Intel from being a laggard to a catalyst, strengthening US’s lead in the AI race.
“With AI infrastructure investments continuing to grow with the company expecting between $3 trillion to $4 trillion in total AI infrastructure spend by the end of the decade, the chip landscape remains NVDA’s world with everybody else paying rent as more sovereigns and enterprises wait in line for the most advanced chips in the world.”
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) designs, manufactures, and sells computer products and technologies, delivering data storage, computer, networking, and communications platforms.
6. Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 94
Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) is one of the 10 AI Stocks Analysts Are Tracking Closely. On September 16, Mizuho raised its price target on the stock to $182.00 from $155.00 on Monday, while maintaining an Outperform rating. The rating comes ahead of the company’s September 23 earnings report.
The firm anticipates accelerated High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) demand ahead of Micron’s fiscal fourth-quarter results. Analysts also forecast higher sales of HBM3e, with Nvidia’s new GB300 chips leading to stronger orders.
They approximate that an estimated 25% of Nvidia’s July-quarter shipments were GB300 versus GB200, stating that GB300 mix could likely exceed above 50% in the October quarter. That shift may provide potential upside for Micron’s November quarter guidance.
Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) develops and sells memory and storage products for data centers, mobile devices, and various industries worldwide.
5. Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 115
Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) is one of the 10 AI Stocks Analysts Are Tracking Closely. On September 18, Goldman Sachs reiterated the stock as “Neutral” with a $395 price target. The firm anticipates Tesla to “grow its EPS driven in part by larger contributions from autonomy and robotics” longer term.
The firm said that “given the move higher in market multiples more generally, as well as the growth rate we believe the business can support over the longer term, plus the increases we make to our forward EPS estimates, we raise our 12-month price target to $395 from $300.”
“If Tesla can have outsized share in areas such as humanoid robotics and autonomy, then there could be upside to our price target, although if competition limits profits (as is happening with the ADAS market in China) or Tesla does not execute well, then there could be downside.”
Delaney anticipates Tesla’s earnings per share to expand due to “larger contributions from autonomy and robotics” and reach as high as about $20 per share, above a “middle of the road type scenario” of $7 to $9 a share.
He also believes that vehicle deliveries in the third and fourth quarters of this year will be better than expected. Tesla reported a second consecutive year-over-year decline in vehicle deliveries in the second quarter.
“We attribute the better 2H volumes in part to the recent Model Y L launch, in part based on somewhat better consumer survey data, and in part with [Inflation Reduction Act] EV purchase credits set to expire on 9/30/25.”
Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) is an automotive and clean energy company that leverages advanced artificial intelligence in its autonomous driving technology and robotics initiatives.
4. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 156
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is one of the 10 AI Stocks Analysts Are Tracking Closely. On September 18, Oppenheimer reiterated the stock as “Perform”. The rating follows the launch of Meta’s Ray-Ban Display smart glasses. The firm reassured that Meta’s smart glasses are not a threat to Apple.
Meta’s $799 Ray-Ban Display features an in-lens display and an EMG wristband for gesture control. However, Oppenheimer contends that the innovation does not yet represent a significant challenge to Apple’s tightly integrated hardware ecosystem.
“The obvious questions for Apple investors are: 1) is Meta Ray-Ban Display a threat to Apple’s ecosystem around iPhone, AirPods, and Apple Watch? And 2) is Meta leapfrogging Apple in smart glasses design? Upon closer inspection of Ray-Ban Display’s specification and discussion with MR supply chain contacts, our answer to both questions is no.”
Apple is a technology company known for its consumer electronics, software, and services.
3. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 219
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is one of the 10 AI Stocks Analysts Are Tracking Closely. On September 16, TD Cowen raised the price target on the stock to $270 from $240 while maintaining its Buy rating on the shares. The rating affirmation follows the firm’s GenAl Public Cloud Survey.
The 2025 GenAI Public Cloud Survey has revealed that Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is the second-place choice for companies considering additional cloud providers.
Survey results demonstrate that Google Cloud Platform, or GCP, had a solid showing. However, there is still a gap between GCP and market leaders Amazon’s (AMZN) Amazon Web Services, or AWS, and Microsoft’s (MSFT) Azure.
GCP awareness remained in third place in this year’s survey at 80%, compared to 94% overall for AWS and 93% for Azure. The metric was strongest in the Enterprise group, with 88% of respondents, as opposed to 70% to 80% for all other business groups.
Blackledge also noted that Google’s Gemini was the second most popular generative Al large language model, or LLM, providers.
“We asked respondents which companies provide underlying LLMs for their GenAl tools, and Google was the 2nd most commonly-used provider (54% of respondents, rising from 50% in our 2024 survey). Meanwhile, OpenAl was the top choice (73% of respondents), but declined somewhat vs 82% in our prior year’s survey, perhaps indicating a shift towards a wider array of LLM providers.”
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is an American multinational technology conglomerate holding company wholly owning the internet giant Google, amongst other businesses.
2. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 235
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) is one of the 10 AI Stocks Analysts Are Tracking Closely. On September 17, Daiwa reiterated the stock as “Outperform” and raised its price target on the stock to $205 per share from $165. The firm believes that Nvidia is “undervalued.”
“NVIDIA keeps marching forward carrying on its broad shoulders the AI mantra. CEO Jensen Huang’s is traveling the world, and having success, supporting this effort.”
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) specializes in AI-driven solutions, offering platforms for data centers, self-driving cars, robotics, and cloud services.
1. Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 260
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is one of the 10 AI Stocks Analysts Are Tracking Closely. On September 18, Citi reiterated the stock as “Buy” Citi stating that it’s bullish on the company’s AI smart glass following a presentation at Meta’s Connect conference.
“With three new AI smart glasses launched at Connect, we emerge incrementally positive on Meta’s AI glasses and broader AI device strategy and believe adoption of the glasses could reach a tipping point in ’26, particularly given the form factors and price points. We were impressed with the heads-up display and Neural Band integration of its new Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses during our hands-on testing at Connect and can envision multiple use cases as the technology evolves. To be clear, it remains early days across AI devices and glasses, but with AI’s always-on nature, we view the glasses as a natural extension of AI and a must-buy as superintelligence evolves the broader internet user experience. Bigger picture, we believe Meta’s Short-, Medium-, & Long-term product roadmap can deliver continued engagement, monetization gains, and margin expansion as its AI investments remain highly strategic; we reiterate our Buy & $915 TP [currently $776]”
While we acknowledge the potential of META as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than META and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
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