Artificial Intelligence consumes as much as 20 percent of global data-center power demand, based on research published in the journal Joule. This energy consumption appears to be accelerating at a pace faster than it can be replenished.
As per a Reuters report, America’s largest power grid is under strain as its data centers and AI chatbots are consuming power faster than new plants can be built. The report reveals that electricity bills are anticipated to swell by more than 20% this summer in some parts of PJM Interconnection’s territory.
The said territory covers 13 states and serves 67 million customers in a region with the most data centers in the world. PJM is facing major issues. The Pennsylvania governor is threatening to abandon the grid, the CEO is leaving, and two board members have been removed. These problems began last year when auction prices jumped over 800% and led to higher electricity bills.
A new auction is now coming up, and prices are anticipated to rise again. These auctions make sure there is enough power during extreme weather. According to several sources, PJM has made the situation worse until now by delaying auctions and halting the application process for new plants.
“We need speed from PJM, we need transparency from PJM and we need to keep consumer costs down with PJM. I think they’ve taken some steps in that direction which is really encouraging to me and we’re going to continue to work at it.”
-Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro told Reuters in an interview.
On the other hand, PJM says the supply and demand crunch has been driven largely by factors outside of its control.
“Prices will remain high as long as demand growth is outstripping supply – this is a basic economic policy. Right now, we need every megawatt we can get.”
-PJM spokesman Jeffrey Shields.
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 Q1 2025.
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10. Pony AI Inc. (NASDAQ:PONY)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 13
Pony AI Inc. (NASDAQ:PONY) is one of the 10 AI Stocks Investors Are Watching This Week. On July 7, PRNewswire and several other news sources reported that Pony.ai and Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) held a reveal ceremony of Pony.ai’s Robotaxi in Dubai. The ceremony aimed to strengthen the partnership between the two, to advance Level (L4) autonomous mobility solutions.
The partnership builds on their collaboration from last year, confirming that they will keep working together to bring advanced self-driving technology to Dubai’s transportation system.
The alliance aims to improve urban mobility efficiency, decrease traffic congestion, and form sustainable transportation models. This, in turn, supports Dubai’s vision to transform 25% of all journeys in the city into autonomous trips by 2030.
“The collaboration with Dubai RTA exemplifies our commitment to deploying Level 4 autonomous technology in strategic global markets. By aligning our technological capabilities with RTA’s visionary leadership, we’re establishing foundational standards for intelligent transportation ecosystems across the MENA region.”
– Pony.ai CFO Dr. Leo Wang
Pony AI Inc. (NASDAQ:PONY) specializes in autonomous mobility, offering AI-driven robotruck and robotaxi services, intelligent driving software, and vehicle integration solutions.
9. CoreWeave, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWV)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 36
CoreWeave, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWV) is one of the 10 AI Stocks Investors Are Watching This Week. On July 7, CoreWeave announced that it will buy crypto miner Core Scientific in an all-stock deal valued at about $9 billion. The deal comes amid AI infrastructure firms racing to secure the energy and data center capacity needed for powering burgeoning demand.
According to CoreWeave, the deal will allow the immediate elimination of more than $10 billion of cumulative future lease overhead to be paid for existing contractual sites over the next 12 years. The offer prices Core Scientific at $20.40 per share, reflecting a premium of around 66% to the stock’s closing price before news related to deal talks surfaced in late June.
Core Scientific stockholders will be receiving 0.1235 newly issued CoreWeave stock for each share they hold.
“This acquisition accelerates our strategy to deploy AI and HPC (high-performance computing) workloads at scale.”
-CoreWeave CEO Michael Intrator.
CoreWeave, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWV) is a cloud platform provider that provides equipment for AI and other computing purposes.
8. Datadog, Inc. (NASDAQ:DDOG)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 84
Datadog, Inc. (NASDAQ:DDOG) is one of the 10 AI Stocks Investors Are Watching This Week. On July 8, Guggenheim cut the stock’s rating to “Sell” from Neutral on a target price of $105. The firm has warned that Datadog may suffer a major revenue hit if OpenAI, its biggest customer, moves workloads in-house.
According to the brokerage, OpenAI is building its own log‑management and metrics tools. Provided this becomes true, it may begin eating away at Datadog’s billings in the second half of 2025.
The firm anticipates Datadog to grow 17% in the fourth quarter, which is lower than the 24.6% gain in the current quarter. For 2026, they see only 15% growth in 2026, four points below consensus.
Analysts at the firm highlighted that OpenAI now accounts for an estimated $170 million, or about 60% of Datadog’s “AI‑native” customer cohort. If OpenAI migrates, Datadog would have to deal with “a $150 million or greater…hole to fill in 2026.”
Nevertheless, a strong second quarter, with nearly 25% revenue growth, is still anticipated by the firm. However, this optimism may fade as OpenAI’s optimisation “creates a potential step‑function down” in the second half.
Datadog, Inc. (NASDAQ:DDOG) offers a cloud-based SaaS platform for monitoring and analytics, specializing in cloud computing and AI-powered cybersecurity products.
7. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 91
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is one of the 10 AI Stocks Investors Are Watching This Week. On July 7, Citigroup analyst Christopher Danely raised the price target for Intel from $21.00 to $24.00, keeping a “Neutral” rating on the shares. The rating update comes as part of a Q2 earnings preview for the semiconductor group.
The firm raised its forecasts, explaining that previous assumptions that tariffs would slow down the industry don’t seem to be coming true. Citi believes that the sector will now grow, driven by solid demand and inventory replenishment.
The two stocks that Citi sees the most upside in are Microchip (MCHP) and Texas Instruments (TXN).
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) designs and sells computing hardware, semiconductor products, and AI-driven solutions for various industries.
6. GE Vernova Inc. (NYSE:GEV)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 111
GE Vernova Inc. (NYSE:GEV) is one of the 10 AI Stocks Investors Are Watching This Week. On July 8, UBS initiated coverage of the stock with a “Buy” rating and $614 price target.
According to the firm, the wind turbine maker is set to grow backed by booming electricity demand from data centers and a limited supply environment. These will help drive pricing power and long-term growth.
The firm analyst believes that GE Vernova’s compound earnings growth is likely to be 70% over five years, which is the bank’s highest estimate across covered companies. This estimate is driven by AI-related energy needs and long equipment lead times that back pricing.
According to the analyst, GE Vernova is 25% into its earnings growth for this cycle, and its profit could grow three times bigger by 2030.
“While valuation is high, we believe it is sustainable.”
GE Vernova Inc. (NYSE:GEV) is a global energy company and a soaring AI stock driven by the demand for energy to power artificial intelligence technology.
5. Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 140
Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) is one of the 10 AI Stocks Investors Are Watching This Week. On July 7, Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Matthew VanVliet reiterated an “Overweight” rating on the stock with a $325.00 price target. The rating affirmation was made ahead of an upcoming client call that will feature a customer of the company’s Agentforce product.
Cantor will be hosting the call with Julian Lustig today, July 9th. Lustig was the one who was involved in the implementation of Agentforce at Co-operators Group Limited. The discussion will be covering aspects such as why Co-operators chose Agentforce, its capabilities, limitations, pricing model, and even areas of improvement.
Other topics that will be addressed include a roadmap for future rollouts, IT budget trends, and more.
Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) is a cloud-based CRM company that has gained popularity after it unveiled its AI-powered platform called Agentforce.
4. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 159
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is one of the 10 AI Stocks Investors Are Watching This Week. On July 8, Evercore ISI analyst Amit Daryanani reiterated an “Outperform” rating on the stock with a $250.00 price target.
The rating affirmation follows the departure of Apple’s key artificial intelligence executive, Ruoming Pang, who left the company for Meta. Pang had been leading Apple’s foundational models team since joining from Google back in 2021.
He overlooked a team of 100 people who were responsible for developing large language models (LLMs) that power Apple Intelligence and similar AI features.
The departure seemingly follows Apple’s recent changes in its AI division, under the direction of Mike Rockwell since April. According to Evercore ISI, the leadership changes reportedly had an impact on team morale and eventually led Pang to exit the company.
However, the main reason would have likely been compensation in the “tens of millions” annually offered by the other company. The firm believes that Apple’s approach to AI is “prudently flexible and cost conscious,” whereby the strategy “preserves capital and optionality” for various monetization opportunities.
Apple is a technology company known for its consumer electronics, particularly the iPhones and MacBooks.
3. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 187
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) is one of the 10 AI Stocks Investors Are Watching This Week.
On July 7, Macquarie raised the stock’s target price from 1,125 New Taiwanese dollars to 1,282 New Taiwanese dollars, maintaining an “Outperform” rating. The rating affirmation is driven by the burgeoning demand from the AI super cycle.
Firm analysts are particularly optimistic about TSMC’s leadership in advanced semiconductor nodes, particularly its N2 technology. The ongoing growth from its N3 nodes is also a positive factor.
Macquarie further analyzed that the “N2 ramp-up is a critical driver,” with design-in activity for N2 already superior to that of N3 at a similar stage. This, in turn, implies robust demand for TSMC’s cutting-edge chips. Consequently, the firm anticipates over 20% YoY USD revenue growth in 2025.
“Robust revenue growth from advanced nodes could partially offset these FX-related headwinds.”
The analysts believe that the demand generated by AI, together with TSMC’s superior technology, could lead to a similar P/E re-rating that happened during the last consumer electronics boom in late 2020. At that time, TSMC’s P/E expanded to 20–25x.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) manufactures and sells advanced chips used in artificial intelligence applications.
2. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 227
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is one of the 10 AI Stocks Investors Are Watching This Week. On July 8, Roth Capital raised the firm’s price target on the stock to $205 from $180 and kept a “Buy” rating on the shares. According to the firm, Alphabet stock is a “show me” story with two “monkeys on its back.”
The two challenges that Alphabet has been facing are pressure from AI Search competition and monopoly lawsuits. However, the firm is still hopeful about its progress in AI search and believes that its growing AI Cloud business will lead to potential upside at the current valuation.
The firm further stated that Alphabet’s fundamentals will likely remain unchanged, which makes the stock a “sentiment recovery play” for the second half of the year.
The firm also called Alphabet its #1 Mega Cap pick for the balance of 2025.
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is an American multinational technology conglomerate holding company wholly owning the internet giant Google, amongst other businesses.
1. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 328
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is one of the 10 AI Stocks Investors Are Watching This Week. On July 8, Analyst John Blackledge from TD Cowen reiterated a “Buy” rating on the stock and increased the price target to $250.00 from $240.00. Blackledge is optimistic about Amazon’s performance in the upcoming quarters, anticipating its second-quarter results to surpass market expectations.
The three factors that are behind this optimism are the continued growth in Amazon Web Services (AWS), advertising, and the eCommerce segments. The analyst also expects strong guidance for the third quarter of 2025.
With AI capacity constraints expected to ease due to investments in generative AI infrastructure, it is quite likely that AWS will experience a boost in year-over-year revenue growth. Amazon’s eCommerce business is also likely to sustain momentum due to factors such as record delivery speeds, strength in everyday essentials, rural market expansion, and an extended Prime Day event.
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is an American technology company offering e-commerce, cloud computing, and other services, including digital streaming and artificial intelligence solutions.
While we acknowledge the potential of AMZN 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 AMZN and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: 10 AI Stocks Getting Wall Street’s Attention and 10 Buzzing AI Stocks on Wall Street Right Now.
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