The United States recently issued guidance threatening companies not to use advanced computer chips from China, including Huawei’s Ascend AI chips. However, China has now urged the country to “immediately correct its wrongdoings” and stop “discriminatory” measures against it.

A spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Commerce has said that the United States has abused its export control measures. He said that the country has imposed stricter restrictions on Chinese chip products based on unfounded allegations, further explaining how the said restrictions contain discriminatory measures and tend to distort the market.

The U.S. Commerce Department had issued the guidance last week, with its Bureau of Industry and Security stating that “these chips were likely developed or produced in violation of U.S. export controls.”

“The U.S. has been abusing export control measures, imposing stricter restrictions on Chinese chip products under unfounded accusations… China firmly opposes this… Trying to trip others won’t make oneself run faster.”

-The Chinese Ministry

Opposing the unilateral bullying from the US’s end, the Chinese spokesperson said that the restrictions have infringed upon the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies. The country has been accused of undermining the preliminary trade agreement reached in Geneva, Switzerland.

The spokesperson further urged the country to work with China to jointly safeguard the consensus concluded in the Geneva talks.

“If the United States continues to cause China substantive harm, China will take resolute measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.”

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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12. SAP SE (NYSE:SAP)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 27

SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) is a leader in ERP software that leverages artificial intelligence to enhance its enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions. SAP Sapphire, one of the most significant annual events in the tech and business world, is happening now in Orlando, Florida. On May 20, SAP took the conference stage to announce major AI innovations centered around its Joule AI assistant, aiming to boost business productivity by up to 30%. Joule now includes an action bar powered by WalkMe to track user behavior across apps and the ability to offer itself as a proactive AI assistant that can anticipate needs.

A collaboration with Perplexity now allows it to draw on data to solve complex business problems too. Meanwhile, SAP has also introduced an expanded library of Joule Agents that can work across systems and lines of business to “anticipate, adapt, and act autonomously”. The company has also introduced an operating system for AI development that revolutionizes how enterprises build, deploy, and scale AI solutions. New intelligent applications in SAP Business Data Cloud use real-time business data to simulate outcomes and guide decision-making. SAP has also entered into a partnership with Palantir to facilitate joint customers’ cloud migration journey and modernization programs.

“SAP combines the world’s most powerful suite of business applications with uniquely rich data and the latest AI innovations to create a flywheel of customer value. With the expansion of Joule, our partnerships with leading AI pioneers, and advancements in SAP Business Data Cloud, we’re delivering on the promise of Business AI as we drive digital transformations that help customers thrive in an increasingly unpredictable world.”

-SAP CEO Christian Klein.

11. Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 47

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT), a cybersecurity company, provides enterprise-level next-generation firewalls and network security solutions, leveraging artificial intelligence across its cybersecurity products. On May 20, KeyBanc analyst Eric Heath reiterated an “Overweight” rating on the stock with a $115.00 price target. Even though Fortinet has been operating in a complex macroeconomic environment, feedback for April and the beginning of May has been predominantly positive. Even though a few concerns were raised by partners regarding recent turnover within Fortinet’s go-to-market (GTM) team, the overall sentiment about Fortinet’s market position and growth prospects remains positive. The report ended with a positive note on the industry-wide refresh cycle, specific end-of-service refresh opportunity, and its unique strategy in expanding into Secure Access Service Edge (SASE).

“Following Fortinet’s mixed 1Q earnings results & commentary, we caught up with a handful of channel contacts, and the feedback on the month of April and into May has generally been positive. Further, despite the dynamic macro, channel feedback on pipeline and the outlook for the end-of-service refresh opportunity also remains constructive. There were, however, a couple partners that expressed some caution of recent turnover among Fortinet’s GTM team that is causing execution to not be as strong as it maybe otherwise could be. Separately, following Fortinet’s 10-Q filing, we are lowering our services revenue estimates to now decelerate throughout 2025 as opposed to our prior model that had modest acceleration. As a result, we are now 0.5% below the midpoint of revenue guidance. Our recent channel conversations keep us positive on the broader industry firewall refresh cycle underway, the Fortinet end-of-service refresh opportunity, and Fortinet’s differentiated GTM & product strategy to be successful expanding into SASE, if some incremental caution on GTM execution. Reiterate Overweight and $115 price target.”