5 Best AI Stocks to Buy Under $25

4. Aeye Inc (NASDAQ:LIDR)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 3

Upside Potential: 115.21%

Stock Price: $1.80

Aeye Inc (NASDAQ:LIDR) is among the best AI stocks to buy under $25. The stock has soared more than 170% over the past 12 months.

Amid the growing demand for lidar technology, Aeye Inc (NASDAQ:LIDR) is forging ties to validate its technology, strengthen its product portfolio, and expand its business opportunities. On March 17, AEye, Inc. announced that it has joined the Nvidia Halos AI Systems Inspection Lab.

This is a big deal for the company. The Nvidia Halos program is meant to provide AI safety guardrails, from design to validation and deployment. The lab is accredited by the ANSI National Accreditation Board, and because of this, it helps ecosystem partners in showing compliance with safety, security, and system integrity standards.

AEye CEO Matt Fisch said that participation in the Nvidia Halos program strengthens their commitment to delivering solutions that meet the highest standards of safety and interoperability.

At CES 2026 in January, AEye signed a partnership agreement with Vueron to expand the reach of its lidar solutions. Under this pact, AEye will combine its Apollo lidar technology with Vueron’s perception software. This arrangement is meant to enable the companies to deliver a highly intelligent and scalable solution to address the needs of diverse markets.

AEye’s Apollo lidar is so powerful it can detect objects at distances up to one kilometer away. The company is developing even more capable lidar sensors. On January 5, it announced the launch of the Stratos, a new lidar sensor that it says can detect objects at distances of up to 1.5 kilometers. The Stratos sensor expands AEye’s product portfolio beyond the Apollo lidar lineup.

AEye’s is expanding its product offering as it targets a growing lidar market. According to Grand View Research, the global lidar market is on course to reach $4.71 billion by 2030 from $2.74 billion in 2024.

Aeye Inc (NASDAQ:LIDR) and its subsidiaries deliver AI-powered sensing solutions for vehicle autonomy, driver-assistance systems, robotics, and other applications across the U.S., Europe, and Asia Pacific.