We recently published a list of 12 AI Stocks Making Waves Today. In this article, we are going to take a look at where International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) stands against other AI stocks making waves today.

China’s foreign ministry recently released a video on its social media feeds, complete with a voice-over in American-accented English, comparing the acceptance of U.S. President Donald Trump’s 145% tariffs to “drinking poison”.

“China won’t kneel down, because we know standing up for ourselves keeps the possibility of cooperation alive, while compromise snuffs it out… Imperialists are always arrogant. If they show a bit of reason it’s only because they are forced to do so”

-The narration said.

A Chinese official revealed that Beijing believes yielding or compromising now would only weaken China in the future and that it would authorize Trump to change the terms later. These ongoing tariff riots aren’t superficial, rather, they are a reflection of deeper tensions in the ongoing US-China rivalry, particularly over dominance in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence.

READ ALSO: 12 AI Stocks Analysts Are Talking About Right Now and 10 AI Stocks in the Spotlight This Week.

In the initial days of the tariff frenzy, former Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland had called on President Donald Trump to take the threat of tariffs off the table. She argued that the U.S. will need Canadian energy in the race to achieve dominance in artificial intelligence.

Freeland has deemed the tariffs as “the dumbest trade war in history,” stating how the U.S.-Canada trade relationship is largely balanced when oil, gas, and electricity are excluded. She said that the tariff threat needs to be taken “definitively off the table.”

“You are really lucky that Canada is the country that sells you oil and gas and electricity. We are a much more reliable supplier than, say, Venezuela. And the fact is, particularly with AI, America’s needs for energy are only going to increase.”

-Freeland told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

Canada aside, the artificial intelligence boom is being slowed due to the overall global trade war triggered by the Trump administration. Upcoming earnings reports from tech giants and utilities powering the massive data centers will reveal whether tit-for-tat tariffs, particularly between the U.S. and China, are making businesses change their plans for building data centers and other infrastructure.

China plays an important role in the production of AI hardware. It was excluded from a 90-day tariff reprieve earlier. According to analysts, the 145% U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods will sharply increase data center costs if an exemption on electronics is rolled back.

“Much of the electrical infrastructure and data center equipment is manufactured outside of the U.S. In many cases this equipment is in short supply and demand is high globally. Tariffs will likely make this more challenging, especially if foreign suppliers divert this equipment to other markets.”

-Pat Lynch, executive managing director for data center solutions at CBRE, a commercial real estate services firm.

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.

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).

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International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 60

International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) is a multinational technology company and a pioneer in artificial intelligence, offering AI consulting services and a suite of AI software products. On April 28, the company announced that it plans to invest $150 billion in America over the next five years to boost the economy and to accelerate its role as the global leader in computing. The investment will include more than $30 billion in research and development, aiming to advance IBM’s American manufacturing of mainframe and quantum computers.

“Technology doesn’t just build the future — it defines it. We have been focused on American jobs and manufacturing since our founding 114 years ago, and with this investment and manufacturing commitment we are ensuring that IBM remains the epicenter of the world’s most advanced computing and AI capabilities.”

-Arvind Krishna, IBM chairman, president and chief executive officer.

Overall, IBM ranks 9th on our list of AI stocks making waves today. While we acknowledge the potential of IBM 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 time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than IBM but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.

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