We recently compiled a list of the Top 10 Trending AI Stocks on Latest News and Ratings. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) stands against the other AI stocks.

The artificial intelligence revolution is fueling a fierce clash for increasingly scarce resources. That appears to be the case, given that a single query on ChatGPT requires nearly 10 times as much electricity as a traditional search query on Google. You will be mistaken to think that only power grids are being strained amid the AI boom.

Water, land, metals, and minerals are some of the natural resources being strained as the AI race heats up. In addition to natural resources, millions of humans are always on dial engineering, correcting and training models at the heart of AI.

AI mostly lives and works in data centers, which are humming with motherboards, chips, and storage devices. The demand for electricity from these centers is currently higher than the supply in many parts of the world. Likewise, Goldman Sachs reports that data centers in the US are likely to use 8% of all electricity by 2030, which is almost three times the percentage in 2022 when the AI craze first started.

“The data centers have to partner with utilities, the system operators, the communities, to really establish that these things are assets to the grid and not liabilities to the grid. Nobody’s going to keep approving,” said Ali Fenn, president of Lancium, a company that secures land and power for data centers in Texas.

Similarly, it’s no longer a secret that resource-intensive AI will create winners and losers. Tech giants willing to spend billions of dollars appear to be having an edge. That might explain why the US tech giants are on course to spend $320 billion in 2025, primarily to enhance their AI infrastructure.

Likewise, it is a battle for supremacy between nations as they look to outdo each other on a technology that’s emerged as a matter of national security. The US has already passed legislation prohibiting the sale of advanced chips and equipment to China. Beijing has also hit back with similar restrictions.

“We will safeguard American AI and chip technologies from theft and misuse, work with our allies and partners to strengthen and extend these protections and close pathways to adversaries attaining AI capabilities that threaten all of our people,” said US Vice President JD Vance

The fact that AI is causing conflicts over increasingly limited resources, including chips, is no longer a secret. It is encouraging tech companies to look for more effective ways to develop artificial intelligence. They are investing billions of dollars in alternative energy sources like nuclear fusion, which have been stuttering along for years or even decades without significant investment or technological advancements. Even though the world is on track to surpass important emissions targets in the fight against climate change, the demands of AI are increasing the pressure to continue burning fossil fuels to power the grid.

There is danger even though the AI rollout offers investors, companies, and societies many opportunities. Numerous people have brought up the possibility of such systems being biased and harmful. Meanwhile, Wall Street is growing weary of waiting for the technology to produce significant financial gains. Even emphasizing efficiency could become a liability for those who make excessive infrastructure 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 in Q4 2024.

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 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 74

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) is a communication services company that provides communications, technology, and entertainment services to consumers, businesses, and government agencies. The company is increasingly integrating AI into its operations to simplify employee’s tasks and help customers. It has also teamed up with Google Cloud to develop advanced AI solutions to enhance network maintenance and anomaly detection.

On February 25, Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) confirmed a strategic partnership with Samsung and Qualcomm. The pact paves the way for the company to implement a multi-vendor RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) in its commercial network. The integration marks an important milestone in Open Radio Access Network technology and AI integration. Additionally, the integration of AI-powered Energy Saving Manager with Qualcomm’s RAN Automation should strengthen Verizon’s prospects in the software-defined networks.

Overall VZ ranks 4th on our list of the trending AI stocks. While we acknowledge the potential of VZ as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than VZ but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and Complete List of 59 AI Companies Under $2 Billion in Market Cap.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.