US President Donald Trump wrapped up his tour of the Middle East today, concluding numerous high-profile deals and diplomatic engagements with countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
On his last stop of the Gulf tour, Trump inked a massive AI data centre project where the two countries will be partnering on an artificial intelligence campus. Trump noted that the United Arab Emirates and the United States had agreed on a path for the Gulf country to buy advanced AI semiconductors from U.S. companies. This marks a significant step forward in Abu Dhabi’s efforts to become a global AI hub.
The AI agreement “includes the UAE committing to invest in, build, or finance U.S. data centres that are at least as large and as powerful as those in the UAE.”
-White House.
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Trump also pledged to strengthen U.S. ties to the United Arab Emirates, announcing deals with the Gulf state totalling over $200 billion. The two countries have agreed to deepen cooperation in artificial intelligence.
The US and UAE have agreed to establish a “US-UAE AI Acceleration Partnership” framework. Trump and Sheikh Mohamed also attended the unveiling of the new 5GW AI campus. This would be the largest outside the United States. However, the countries did not specify which AI chips from Nvidia or other companies could be included in the data centres.
“In the UAE, American companies will operate the data centers and offer American-managed cloud services throughout the region. The agreement also contains strong security guarantees to prevent diversion of U.S. technology.”
-Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik on the broader AI agreement between the US and the UAE.
“I have absolutely no doubt that the relationship will only get bigger and better..Your wonderful brother came to Washington a few weeks ago and he told us about your generous statement as to the 1.4 trillion.”
-Trump said in a meeting with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, referring to a UAE pledge to invest $1.4 trillion in the U.S. over 10 years.
The UAE is “keen to continue and strengthen this friendship for the benefit of the two countries and peoples..your presence here today, your excellency, the president, confirms that this keenness is mutual.”
-Sheikh Mohamed told Trump
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.
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10. Super Micro Computer Inc. (NASDAQ:SMCI)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 45
Super Micro Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMCI) designs and manufactures high-performance server and storage solutions for data centers, cloud computing. On May 16, the company announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership under a memorandum of understanding (“MOU”) with Saudi Arabian startup DataVolt. The MOU aims to build hyperscale AI campuses initially in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with Supermicro’s ultra-dense GPU platforms, storage, and rack PnP systems to be delivered for DataVolt’s green AI campuses.
Some of the advantages of Supermicro’s state-of-the-art liquid cooling solutions are that they reduce power costs up to 40%, accelerate time-to-deployment and time-to-online, and allow data centers to run more efficiently. Supermicro noted that the collaboration is subject to negotiation and completion of one or more definitive agreements between the parties.
“Supermicro is thrilled to work together in this important effort to deliver significantly enhanced computing power for the next generation of AI infrastructure. We are excited to collaborate with DataVolt to bring our advanced AI systems featuring the latest direct liquid cooling technology (DLC-2) powered by local renewable, sustainable, and net-zero green technology.”
-Charles Liang, President and CEO of Supermicro.
9. Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 63
Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL) provides IT solutions, including servers, storage, networking, and personal computing devices, to businesses and consumers worldwide. On May 16, Citi reiterated the stock as “Buy” and raised its price target on Dell to $128 per share from $105 ahead of earnings later this month. The company will report its earnings for its fiscal first quarter on May 29.
“The company’s lean inventory, just-in-time manufacturing, and diversification in supply chain to Mexico and other regions suggest they should be able to adapt to the changing dynamics more rapidly than their peers.”
8. CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 77
CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD) is a leader in AI-driven endpoint and cloud workload protection. On May 15, Mizuho downgraded the stock to “Neutral” from Outperform while maintaining a $425.00 price objective on the stock. The firm said it is waiting for a more attractive entry point following its latest evaluations that reveal a slowdown in performance with certain partners not meeting expectations, and also some potential risks.
“Having said that, our recent CRWD checks have moderated while some potential risk factors have emerged, and yet the shares have been remarkably robust and now trade above our $425 price target. As such, we are downgrading our rating on CRWD to a Neutral from Outperform, and we recommend waiting for a better entry point.”
7. Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 84
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) is an American technology company that provides information technology and networking services. On May 15, Wells Fargo upgraded the stock to “Overweight” from equal weight and also lifted its price target to $75 from $72. The firm said it sees “AI momentum” following the company’s earnings report on Wednesday. As the company exits its fiscal third quarter, the firm noted how it has already managed to surpass its $1 billion cumulative order target for the fiscal year. That said, it could continue to diversify into other AI opportunities, such as large-scale sovereign AI opportunities and traditional enterprise adoption in the long run.
“Upgrade CSCO to OW; $75 PT ; most notably driven by: 1. Accelerating AI momentum + diversification; $600M+ in new orders in F3Q25 vs. $350M in F2Q25, 2.LT Enterprise AI oppy via NVDA alignment.”
6. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 96
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) develops and sells semiconductors, processors, and GPUs for data centers, gaming, AI, and embedded applications. On May 16, Barclays reiterated the stock as “Buy” and raised its price target to $130 per share from $110. The rating has been issued after AMD’s recent deal announcement with Saudi startup Humain. AMD said that Humain has committed $10 billion to the project. AMD’s rally is also being fueled by the company’s announcement that its board of directors has authorized $6 billion in share buybacks.
“AMD is gaining share in PC and Server with a call option on AI if the MI [machine learning] platform can succeed.”
5. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 166
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is a technology company known for its consumer electronics, particularly the iPhones and MacBooks. On May 16, Wedbush reiterated the stock as “Outperform” with a $270 price target. The firm said that Apple is doubling down on its production strategy for the iPhone 17, and that its manufacturing will be centered in India and China.
“We believe that Apple could ramp iPhone assembly production in India up to 60%-65% by the Fall in a best case scenario but could easily pivot back to a China driven iPhone strategy depending on the tariff situation and deal negotiations.”
The firm praised CEO Tim Cook for managing an “unprecedented supply chain situation,” stating how the recent pause in U.S.-China tariff tensions offers Apple “a number of strategic options.” Even though Apple has massive U.S. investments, the firm sees “no chance that iPhone production starts to happen in the U.S. in the near term,” due to a “Herculean-like supply chain” and cost model. These factors have the tendency to drive iPhone prices to about $3,500.
4. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 223
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) specializes in AI-driven solutions, offering platforms for data centers, self-driving cars, robotics, and cloud services. One of the most notable analyst calls on Friday, May 16, was for Nvidia Corporation. Wedbush reiterated the stock as “Outperform,” stating that the supply chain checks show that Nvidia’s Blackwell chip continues to ramp up.
“We believe Nvidia Blackwell builds continue to ramp: Our recent conversations, hyperscale reports, and CoreWeave’s update all point to strength in forward capex.”
Analysts on Wall Street currently have a consensus “Buy” rating on the stock. The average price target of $160 implies a 18% upside, however, the Street-high target of $235 implies an upside of 75%.
3. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 234
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is an American multinational technology conglomerate holding company wholly owning the internet giant Google, amongst other businesses. On May 15, Reuters reported that Google One, Alphabet’s subscription service that charges consumers for cloud storage and artificial intelligence features, has recently crossed 150 million subscribers. The service is part of Alphabet’s strategy to diversify beyond advertising, accounting for over three-quarters of its 2024 revenue. Spectators believe that the success with the subscription pathway could help Alphabet in its long-term financial outlook as it deals with the threat of AI chatbots, like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s own Gemini, to its search engine control.
2. Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 235
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is a global technology company. On May 14, Loop reiterated the stock as “Buy” and raised its price target on the stock to $888 from $695. The rating adjustment follows Meta’s stronger-than-expected second-quarter outlook, acknowledging that the firm’s revenue growth stagnation due to reduced spending by Chinese advertisers was inaccurate. Instead, artificial intelligence (AI) advancements on Meta’s platforms have compensated for any potential loss, thereby resulting in performance gains. The firm further highlighted how Meta is positioned as the leading example of a company benefiting from AI advancements, and that it expects it to outshine the Mag-7 throughout the year.
“We continue to see Meta as the best non-hardware example of tangible, right-now beneficiary of AI and think the stock will outperform the ‘mag-7’ peer group this year.”
1. 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 May 15, Citi reiterated the stock as “Buy” and raised its price target to $540 per share from $480. Analyst Tyler Radke commended the company’s robust fiscal earnings and revenue beat as well as its strong cost efficiencies and improving performance from its Azure cloud business. He also said that the company’s move to lay off roughly 6,000 employees is a positive move for the stock. These layoffs could “help generate incremental net savings upwards of $1B+ into FY26 to help offset the incremental depreciation/ CapEx cost. We feel this signals prudent operating efficiency. We believe savings will be partially reinvested into R & D, focused on the top priority initiatives across their AI portfolio.”
“We stay constructive on MSFT’s leading position in GenAI, reiterate our Buy rating and raise target price to $540.”
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 have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than MSFT and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
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