We recently compiled a list of the 15 AI Stocks Every Investor Should Be Watching. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) stands against the other AI stocks.
No conservation about artificial intelligence today stands complete without the mention of DeepSeek. As reported by The Information, the Chinese AI startup that has startled the world of AI with its self-proclaimed cheaper and more efficient AI models is now looking for outside funding. The startup has drawn interest from names such as Alibaba and state funds, the report noted. These low-cost AI models that DeepSeek has presented recently have stirred up investor skepticism, making it quite evident that China is leaving no stone unturned to keep up in the AI arms race.
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With fame, however, comes challenges. For DeepSeek, the surge in demand has caused outages at the small startup. Due to this reason, the company needs more AI chips and servers so that it can handle the fast-growing usage of its models, all while supporting model development. According to the report, funds that have contacted DeepSeek include China Investment Corp and the National Social Security Fund. It further noted that the startup’s executives and hedge fund parent, High-Flyer Capital Management, are also discussing the potential shift to building a business that generates revenue, eventually profiting from research.
The move is in line with China’s efforts to bolster the country’s economy and advance its technological capabilities. This has been made evident from China’s President Xi Jinping’s recent meeting with private sector business leaders, including Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma and Liang Wenfeng, founder of DeepSeek.
“It’s a tacit acknowledgement that the Chinese government needs private-sector firms for its tech rivalry with the United States. The government has no choice but to support them if it wants to compete with the United States.”
-Christopher Beddor, deputy China research director at Gavekal Dragonomics in Hong Kong.
In a similar move announced before this news, OpenAI also plans to revamp its for-profit arm into a public benefit corporation. The move intends to ease restrictions imposed by its current non-profit parent and also increase investments.
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.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
A development team working together to create the next version of Windows.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 279
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) provides AI-powered cloud, productivity, and business solutions, focusing on efficiency, security, and AI advancements. On February 19, the company announced its first quantum computing chip, Majorana 1. Quantum computing can solve complex problems within seconds, potentially leading to breakthroughs in medicine, chemistry, and many other fields.
The challenge of quantum computers, however, is that the fundamental building block called a qubit, is incredibly fast, extremely difficult to control, and also prone to errors. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) said that its Majorana 1 chip is less prone to those errors than rivals. Powered by the new Topological Core architecture, Microsoft expects the computing chip to realize quantum computers that can solve meaningful, industrial-scale problems in a matter of years.
According to the company, the power of quantum computing, combined with AI tools, would allow scientists and engineers to design new materials for various industries with unprecedented accuracy.
“Any company that makes anything could just design it perfectly the first time out. It would just give you the answer. The quantum computer teaches the AI the language of nature so the AI can just tell you the recipe for what you want to make.”
-Matthias Troyer, Microsoft Technical Fellow
Overall MSFT ranks 2nd on our list of the AI stocks every investor should be watching. 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 doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than MSFT but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
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