Artificial Intelligence stocks: everything you need to know in 2025
What are Artificial Intelligence stocks?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) stocks are shares in companies which develop, produce or implement artificial intelligence technology. They occupy a broad swathe of interests, including semiconductor companies that produce microchips, software, cloud and novel quantum computing businesses and data analytics corporations that use AI.
Ever since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, AI has become a central investing theme, dragging up the valuations of the ‘Magnificent Seven’ in the United States, and disrupting industries the world over. AI is fuelling advancements in automation, predictive analytics, robotics and natural language processing — changing healthcare, finance, manufacturing, cybersecurity — almost every sector is affected to at least some degree.
While the largest companies in the US get the lion’s share of the attention — Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla were christened the Magnificent Seven by Bank of America analyst Michael Hartnett in 2023 and continue to sport world-leading valuations — there are many non-US stocks which are critical in the AI space.
These include ASML Holdings, a Netherlands firm which is the only company in the world that manufactures the extreme ultraviolet lithography machines which are essential for printing patterns onto silicon wafers within advanced chips.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is also a key AI player, as it’s arguably the most important microchip foundry in the world — meaning it doesn't design chips itself but rather manufactures them for other companies that design them. Importantly, it manufactures the most advanced microchips, including 3-nanometer chips and plans to mass produce 2-nanometer chips in this year.
Other key names include Germany’s SAP, which is embedding AI deeply into enterprise software, SoftBank in Japan, which supports major AI-related investments via its Vision Fund.
While these stocks are perhaps in general overvalued on fundamentals, AI is viewed by many investors as a hugely disruptive foundational technology, similar to the invention of cars, the electricity or the internet. There’s also the political dimension to consider; the race to develop artificial general intelligence (human-level AI) will see incredible returns for the eventual winner — if indeed it is even possible.
Of course, the sector has been hit hard by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, but the underlying potential over the longer term remains attractive to many investors.
How to invest in Artificial Intelligence stocks with us
- Learn more about artificial intelligence
- Download the IG Invest app or open a share dealing account online
- Search for your desired stock on our app or web platform
- Choose how many shares you’d like to buy
- Place your deal and monitor your investment
Investors look to grow their capital through share price returns and dividends - if paid.
But the value of investments can fall as well as rise, past performance is no indicator of future returns, and you could get back less than your original investment.
For investors seeking exposure to the general AI theme, we offer the popular WisdomTree Artificial Intelligence UCITS ETF (WTAI) which invests in companies that develop or leverage this technology to enhance their business processes.
It tracks the NASDAQ CTA Artificial Intelligence Index, which includes businesses from fields such as robotics, big data, and cloud computing. It has a moderate expense ratio of 0.4%, with top holdings including Astera Labs and Palantir.
Best Artificial Intelligence stocks to watch
The following five stocks are the largest AI companies in the world by market capitalisation as of April 2025.
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL)
Apple designs and sells consumer electronics, software and services — with the iPhone at the core of its tightly integrated ecosystem. It’s often the largest company in the world, which is no surprise considering its extremely loyal customer base, seamless user experience across hardware and software, and premium positioning.
In the artificial intelligence space, Apple has a focus on machine learning on its devices, to power features like Siri, Face ID and image processing. The company has developed custom AI chips to handle these tasks without relying on the cloud, which helps preserve user privacy — a key selling point for Apple.
However, Apple’s clear drawback is that its AI efforts are largely confined to the device level, meaning it’s fallen behind in generative AI and large-scale cloud-based models that are reshaping the wider tech industry.
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)
Microsoft is a global leader in enterprise software and cloud computing, with flagship products including Windows, Office and the Azure cloud platform. Its strong foothold in business and developer ecosystems makes it a key player across multiple tech verticals.
In AI, Microsoft has become a frontrunner through its multi-billion-dollar partnership with ChatGPT owner OpenAI, integrating the chatbot into Azure, Office 365 (as Copilot), and developer tools like GitHub.
This gives Microsoft a competitive edge in offering AI-enhanced productivity tools and cloud infrastructure. However, its deep reliance on OpenAI is arguably a strategic risk, especially as governance issues and competition in foundational models intensify.
Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA)
Nvidia began as a graphics chipmaker for gaming but has evolved into the backbone of modern AI computing, supplying the GPUs used in everything from research labs to cloud data centers.
Its chips are now essential infrastructure for AI training and inference — with the company’s CUDA software ecosystem and AI platforms making Nvidia indispensable for developers and enterprises building advanced models.
This overwhelming market dominance gives Nvidia significant pricing power and long-term demand visibility. But this success is highly concentrated, as heavy exposure to the AI chip boom leaves the stock susceptible to supply chain disruption, export controls, shifts toward alternative architectures and even tech advances that may render needing large numbers of its expensive chips obsolete.
Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG)
Alphabet — best known as the parent of Google — is the global market leader in internet search, digital advertising, and mobile operating systems. It also controls a vast product suite including video sharing site YouTube, Android and Chrome, alongside investments in experimental technologies through its Other Bets division that few other companies can finance.
Alphabet remains a pioneer in AI research, with DeepMind and Google Brain key to reinforcement learning and model efficiency. These breakthroughs fuel everyday products like Search, Maps, and Translate and support enterprise tools in Google Cloud.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META)
Meta owns and operates major social media and messaging platforms — including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp — that together form one of the largest digital ecosystems in the world with billions of monthly active users.
The company generates the vast majority of its revenue from advertising, making AI essential to the business model, enabling content recommendation, moderation, and ad targeting at scale.
The company is also investing in open-source models like LLaMA and building infrastructure for next-generation AI applications. While this positions Meta as a major contributor to the AI space, it also raises ethical concerns around user well-being, misinformation and even political manipulation.
Pros and cons of Artificial Intelligence stocks
As with all sectors, artificial intelligence shares come with advantages and drawbacks. With the AI sector, there are also some specific areas to focus analysis on — for example, revenue growth and profitability in AI-driven business segments are extremely important — because companies with strong financial performance and increasing AI-related revenue are generally better positioned for long-term success.
This is largely because AI companies need to consistently invest in research and development to maintain a competitive edge and develop new breakthrough technologies. Another related factor to consider is strategic partnerships; even the largest AI firms tend to do better when they partner together or collaborate with government agencies due to expense sharing.
Pros of AI Stocks
- Growth — AI shares enjoy high growth potential as AI adoption increases across industries
- Capital — they also sport strong backing from tech giants and venture capital
- Profits — AI-driven efficiencies can significantly enhance company profitability across all market segments
- Diversification — AI applications span multiple sectors, creating diverse investment opportunities
Cons of AI Stocks
- Volatility — AI stocks tend to suffer from high market volatility, especially smaller AI-focused companies
- Regulation — there are several regulatory uncertainties regarding AI ethics, data privacy, and automation
- Competition — there is intense competition among AI firms, requiring constant, expensive innovation
- Ethics — ethical concerns, such as bias in AI models and potential job displacement are only going to increase
Artificial Intelligence stocks summed up
- Artificial Intelligence stocks are shares in companies which develop, produce or implement artificial intelligence technology
- They include semiconductor companies that produce microchips, software, cloud and quantum computing businesses, and data analytics corporations
- AI is fuelling advancements in automation, predictive analytics, robotics and natural language processing, changing almost every sector
- The largest US AI stocks now sport multi-trillion-dollar valuations
