According to a new report by Crunchbase Inc., global venture capital funding climbed sharply in the third quarter, increasing 38% year-over-year to $97 billion. This funding marks the fourth consecutive quarter that global venture funding topped $90 billion, a rebound fueled largely by artificial intelligence companies.
The report noted that 46% of global venture funding for the quarter went towards funding AI companies, with 29% invested solely in Anthropic. Anthropic PBC secured a $13 billion round, followed by xAI Inc. with $5.3 billion and Mistral AI Inc. with $2 billion.
Other companies landing billion-dollar deals included Princeton Digital Group Inc., Cerebras Systems Inc., Nscale Inc., Figure AI Inc., Databricks Inc. and PsiQuantum Corp.
All of these deals underscore the robust investor enthusiasm for AI infrastructure and advanced computing, a narrative that has helped push major stock indexes to record highs.
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. Penguin Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:PENG)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 25
Penguin Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:PENG) is one of the 10 AI Stocks Shaping Wall Street’s Next Big Rally. On October 6, Stifel analyst Brian Chin raised the firm’s price target on the stock to $31 from $27 and kept a “Buy” rating on the shares. The firm remains constructive on the stock amid favorable conditions in the memory market.
According to the firm, fiscal Q4 results are anticipated to modestly exceed consensus estimates when the company reports earnings on Tuesday. Not only are memory market conditions favorable both in terms of demand and pricing, but tailwinds are also likely to sustain into the calendar year end.
The company’s memory division, representing 32% of trailing twelve-month sales, is experiencing tailwinds. Moreover, its advanced computing division (49% of TTM sales) is projected to post sequential growth in the fourth quarter due to an improving order pipeline.
The firm projects 8% year-over-year revenue growth overall, which it deems potentially conservative considering favorable memory market conditions and invigorating trends across the broader AI cloud and enterprise markets.
Penguin Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:PENG) is a leading AI and HPC computing company engaged in the design and development of enterprise solutions worldwide.
9. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 113
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) is one of the 10 AI Stocks Shaping Wall Street’s Next Big Rally. On October 6, Reuters reported that AMD will supply artificial intelligence chips to OpenAI in a multi-year deal.
The deal has the potential to generate tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue and includes a warrant-structure that gives OpenAI the option to acquire an estimated 10% of AMD; contingent on deployment, milestones and share price targets.
“We view this deal as certainly transformative, not just for AMD, but for the dynamics of the industry.”
-AMD executive vice president Forrest Norrod told Reuters on Sunday.
The agreement will allow the deployment of hundreds of thousands of AMD’s AI chips, or graphics processing units (GPUs) over several years beginning in the second half of 2026. This is equivalent to six gigawatts.
According to AMD, OpenAI would build a one-gigawatt facility based on its forthcoming MI450 series of chips starting next year, at which point revenue will begin to be recognized.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman noted that the AMD deal will help his startup build enough AI infrastructure to meet its needs.
“We are thrilled to partner with OpenAI to deliver AI compute at massive scale,” said Dr. Lisa Su, chair and CEO, AMD. “This partnership brings the best of AMD and OpenAI together to create a true win-win enabling the world’s most ambitious AI buildout and advancing the entire AI ecosystem.”
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) develops and sells semiconductors, processors, and GPUs for data centers, gaming, AI, and embedded applications.
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