
February 09, 2025
Nanoveu positioned to accelerate growth in AI-driven edge semiconductor solutions
Nanoveu Limited ("Nanoveu" or the "Company") (ASX: NVU), following on from its announcements on 15 October 2024 and 22 November 2024, is pleased to announce the completion of its binding Share Sale Agreement regarding its 100% acquisition of Embedded A.I. Systems Pte. Ltd. (“EMASS”), a leading System-on-Chip (SoC) semiconductor design company, following shareholder approval and completion of due diligence4. This transaction marks a key strategic moment for Nanoveu and adds cutting edge semiconductor technology to its suite of commercial offerings.
Highlights
- Nanoveu executes binding Share Sale Agreement regarding its 100% strategic acquisition of Embedded A.I. Systems Pte. Ltd. (“EMASS”), a System-on-Chip (“SoC”) semiconductor design specialist.1
- The acquisition is reinforced with the recent appointment of Mark Goranson2, an accomplished semiconductor CEO with extensive experience in scaling and commercialising semiconductor technologies who will lead Nanoveu’s new semiconductor division.
- Nanoveu to join a select group of ASX-listed semiconductor innovators, positioning the Company to participate in the growing global demand for ultra-low power, Edge computing and AI applications across numerous markets such as wearables, autonomous automobiles, drones, medical and smart home systems and Internet of Things (“IoT”) devices3
- Targeted Growth Roadmap for 2025:
- Advance Nanoveu’s EyeFly3D™ platform through integration of EMASS’s ultra-low-power SoC for real-time, glasses-free 3D conversion
- Pursue partnerships with wearables, drones, and IoT device manufacturers to commercialise EMASS’s leading Edge technology.
- Recruit top-tier semiconductor engineers to accelerate connectivity innovations and broaden addressable markets
- Enhance ultra-low-power capabilities for battery-powered devices, reducing energy consumption and carbon footprints
Financial G Strategic Rationale
- EMASS’s SoC solution to be embedded into Nanoveu’s EyeFly3D™ product to deliver faster, latency-free 2D- to-3D conversions on mobile devices without reliance on cloud processing to improve the user experience.
- By leveraging EMASS’s ultra-low-power architecture, Nanoveu can target broader IoT segments, including wearables and next-generation consumer electronics, sectors experiencing significant growth amid rising global demand for edge AI applications.
- With acquisition value tied to script and future performance milestones, shareholder interests are aligned.
Driving Innovation Under New Semiconductor Leadership
The acquisition is further reinforced with the major leadership addition at Nanoveu with the appointment of a semiconductor veteran, US-based Mark Goranson, to head the Company’s new semiconductor division (Nanoveu Semiconductor). Mr. Goranson drove hardware innovation for some of the world’s largest semiconductor companies and is experienced at forging strategic alliances. Mr Goranson will focus on integrating EMASS’s technology and accelerating commercialisation and partnerships.
Dr Mohamed Sabry Aly, Founder of EMASS, will remain involved with Nanoveu’s strategic vision, leading continued innovation in Nanoveu’s semiconductor and AI-driven technologies. Dr Aly brings a distinguished track record in hardware innovation, having led major semiconductor design initiatives, including a US$25 million project in Singapore and groundbreaking research at Stanford University that contributed to a US$75 million DARPA-funded program on emerging nanodevices.
Nanoveu Semiconductor CEO, Mark Goranson remarked:“With the current spade of AI technology coming from China, the underlying driver of these technologies underpins (SOC) offering. This will build market leadership for EMASS as we remain agnostic of current AI algorithms developed. We are seeking to redefine the limits of AI efficiency - 30 billion operations per second on just 2 milliwatts. That’s intelligence at the power level of a heartbeat. With up to 12 TOPs per watt, our ultra-low-power AI SoC is not just smaller and faster, in my opinion it’s the future of energy-efficient computing."
Competitive Landscape
By expanding into semiconductors, Nanoveu joins with notable ASX peers and international companies developing energy-efficient AI and edge computing hardware, an industry sector projected to see rapid growth due to the rising global demand for low-latency, high-performance devices. The EMASS acquisition positions Nanoveu alongside innovators driving ultra-low-power and edge-computing solutions such as Ambiq, Syntiant and ETA Compute.
Preliminary MLPerf Tiny v1.2 benchmarking of EMASS’s chipset underscores its strong performance, energy efficiency, and reliability, reflecting Nanoveu’s alignment with the next wave of AI and SoC innovation5. Its performance, energy efficiency, and reliability, highlights its capability to address ultra-low-power computing needs in this rapidly evolving sector.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Nanoveu, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
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09 May
Tech 5: OpenAI Restructures, Apple Pursues AI Search, Constellation Shares Jump
This week proved pivotal for the tech and energy sectors as market dynamics and the regulatory landscape shifted.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) made waves by signaling a foray into artificial intelligence (AI) search and challenging app store regulations, while OpenAI underwent a major restructuring amid legal battles with Elon Musk.
Meanwhile, legislation targeting AI chip tracking gained momentum, and the nuclear energy sector saw increased activity with Ontario Power Generation's new reactor project and potential White House actions.
Earnings reports from major players like Palantir (NASDAQ:PLTR), AMD (NASDAQ:AMD), Arm Holdings (NASDAQ:ARM) and Super Micro Computer (NASDAQ:SMCI) painted a complex picture of growth and challenges in a turbulent economic environment.
The interplay of innovation, regulation and market forces played out against a backdrop of trade developments between the US and the UK, with optimism regarding forthcoming negotiations with China boosting sentiment toward the end of the week.
Read on to dive deeper into this week's top stories.
1. Apple's App Store appeal, AI search plans and chip news
Apple is formally contesting last week’s judicial ruling mandating a reduction in its App Store commission.
The company filed an appeal against the order that would compel it to lower the existing 27 percent fee imposed on businesses offering links within their apps to external payment processing alternatives.
In related news, Apple executive Eddy Cue revealed during federal court testimony that the tech giant is investigating the development of its own AI-powered search engine for the Safari web browser. The news had an immediate impact on Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shares, resulting in a 9 percent decline on Wednesday (May 7) afternoon.
In other news, Apple is reportedly making advances in its in-house silicon development.
The company is designing new proprietary chips intended to serve as the main central processing units for a range of future Apple products. These include anticipated devices such as smart glasses, more powerful iterations of its Mac computer line and specialized AI servers.
Combined with this week’s macroeconomic and geopolitical developments, Apple’s share price experienced turbulence, ultimately closing 2.25 percent below Monday’s (May 5) opening price on Friday (May 9).
2. OpenAI announces restructuring, acquisition and leadership changes
In a notable week for AI giant OpenAI, CEO Sam Altman shared a reorganization strategy on Monday, announcing that its operational arm will transition into a new public benefit corporation, with its non-profit arm acting as the primary shareholder. The decision follows talks with civic leaders and state attorneys general.
A person familiar with the matter told Business Insider that the new plan will let the company receive the full US$30 billion investment from SoftBank (TSE:9984). Meanwhile, sources told Bloomberg on Monday that Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and OpenAI are still in negotiations regarding a restructuring plan. A later report from the Information reveals that OpenAI plans to slash its 20 percent revenue-sharing agreement with Microsoft to 10 percent by 2030.
Regarding the ongoing legal dispute between Sam Altman and Tesla (NADAQ:TSLA) CEO Musk, who alleges that the company has strayed from its founding mission, Musk’s attorney, Marc Toberoff, told Reuters on Monday that the team intends to proceed with the lawsuit. Toberoff also called the restructuring a “cosmetic” move that turns charitable assets into private wealth, adding that “the founding mission remains betrayed.”
In other news, OpenAI made its largest acquisition to date this week, agreeing to buy AI-assisted coding tool Windsurf for about US$3 billion, and named ex-Instacart (NASDAQ:CART) CEO Fidji Simo as its new head of applications.
According to reports, Simo will manage operations and report directly to Sam Altman, who will retain his title as CEO. Altman will shift his focus to research, safety efforts and advancing artificial general intelligence.
3. AI chip regulatory developments
US Representative Bill Foster is preparing to introduce legislation aimed at tracking the location of AI chips, such as those produced by NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), after they are sold.
The proposed bill, first reported by Reuters on Monday, would task US regulators with developing rules to monitor these chips, ensuring they remain in authorized locations under export control licenses.
It would also seek to prevent unlicensed chips from being activated outside of authorized locations.
In other chip-related news, NVIDIA shares rose following news that the Trump administration plans to eliminate the so-called “AI diffusion rule.” However, a spokesperson from the US Department of Commerce clarified upcoming plans in a statement to CNBC’s Kif Leswing on Wednesday, commenting:
“The Biden AI rule is overly complex, overly bureaucratic, and would stymie American innovation. We will be replacing it with a much simpler rule that unleashes American innovation and ensures American AI dominance.”
The announcement highlights the Trump administration's intention to keep some guardrails in place to protect US interests, despite pushback from tech industry executives.
At a Congressional hearing on Thursday (May 8), OpenAI CEO Sam Altman emphasized the importance of maintaining US leadership in AI development. He cautioned against overregulation, warning that poorly designed rules could hinder America’s competitive edge, particularly against China.
4. Palantir, AMD, Arm and Super Micro share results
Palantir’s Q1 revenue rose 39 percent year-on-year to US$884 million, driven by demand for its data analytics software in the US. The company expects demand to continue, forecasting Q2 revenue between US$934 million and US$938 million. Palantir’s share price fell by 8 percent after hours as investors anticipated even stronger results. The company posted a loss of 5.6 percent for the week after a volatile week for tech stocks, as overvaluation concerns persist.
Advanced Micro Devices' Q1 earnings report shows quarterly revenue of US$7.4 billion, an annual increase of 36 percent, with adjusted earnings per share of US$0.96. Despite an initial 7 percent stock surge following a positive quarterly report, AMD shares fell following the company's announcement of a projected US$1.5 billion revenue decrease this year, attributed to US government limitations on the sale of AI chips to China.
Palantir, Super Micro, AMD and Arm performance, May 6 to 9, 2025.
Chart via Google Finance.
For Q4 2024, Arm Holdings reported quarterly revenue of more than US$1 billion for the first time in its history, but forecast revenue and profit for Q1 2025 below Wall Street estimates, resulting in a 4 percent slump on Thursday morning
Super Micro Computer’s net sales increased from US$3,85 billion in Q3 2024 to US$4.6 billion, while the company's earnings per share fell year-on-year from US$0.66 to US$0.17.
The company lowered its full-year revenue guidance from US$23.5 billion to US$25 billion, down to US$21.8 billion to US$22.6 billion, with trade war-induced uncertainty and increasing competition cited as obstacles to growth. The company’s share price opened over 5 percent lower the next day and fell by over 3 percent this week.
5. Constellation shares jump, White House plans reactor push
Shares of Constellation Energy (NASDAQ:CEG) rose nearly 10 percent in two days ahead of the Tuesday (May 6) release of its Q1 earnings report, which revealed revenue that exceeded expectations by over 20 percent.
Later, during an earnings call, CEO Joe Dominguez said the company was close to inking multiple long-term deals to provide nuclear power to meet surging energy demands, further bolstering investors’ optimistic outlook.
In another significant development within the nuclear energy sector, Ontario Power Generation said it has secured the necessary approvals to commence construction on the first of four small modular reactors (SMR) designed by GE Verona (NYSE:GEV), which will be located at the company’s Darlington site near Toronto.
The Darlington project is anticipated to be the first deployment of this particular SMR technology within a G7 nation.
Separately, Axios reported on Tuesday that sources familiar with the matter say the White House is in the final stages of preparing executive actions intended to accelerate the deployment of nuclear reactors. These plans, reportedly under consideration for several weeks, could be officially announced imminently.
On Friday, NPR said its reporters have seen a draft of such an order. According to the report, the order instructs the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to send new reactor safety guidelines to the White House for review and possible amendments. The draft also calls for a reduction of NRC’s staff and a “wholesale revision of its regulation” in coordination with the administration and the Department of Government Efficiency.
Don't forget to follow us @INN_Technology for real-time news updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
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29 April
March 2025 Quarterly Activities and Cash Flow Report
29 April
RemSense Technologies: Enabling Industrial Digital Transformations
RemSense Technologies Limited (ASX:REM) is an Australian technology company driving digital transformation in asset-intensive industries through advanced asset visualisation and drone services. Founded in 2006 as a developer of drone systems for the defence and industrial sectors, RemSense expanded into professional drone services in 2012.
In 2019, the company broadened its focus to include high-resolution 3D asset capture and visualisation, leading to the creation of its flagship platform, virtualplant. This evolution reflects broader trends in digital transformation across sectors such as energy, resources, infrastructure, and utilities. RemSense was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in 2021.
RemSense is strongly positioned to capitalise on the accelerating adoption of digital twin technologies, particularly across the mining, oil and gas, manufacturing, utilities, defence, marine, and aerospace sectors. As these industries increasingly turn to digital solutions to enhance safety, reduce costs, and optimise asset management, demand for RemSense’s innovative offerings continues to grow.
Company Highlights
- Profitable Growth: Delivered $3.12 million in revenue in H1 FY25 – a 178 percent increase year-over-year
- Tier-1 Client Base: Trusted by major global operators including Chevron, Newmont and Woodside Energy for digital twin and drone technology services.
- Flagship Platform – virtualplant: A scalable, cutting edge digital twin solution providing real-time operational insights for industrial facilities and infrastructure.
- Strong legacy drone operations: RPAS Services features CASA-certified pilots and a fleet of custom-engineered drones supporting multiple industrial applications.
- Serving Critical Industries: Solutions deployed across energy, resources, utilities and infrastructure sectors undergoing rapid digital transformation.
This RemSense Technologies profile is part of a paid investor education campaign.*
Click here to connect with RemSense Technologies (ASX:REM) to receive an Investor Presentation
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28 April
RemSense Technologies
Investor Insight
With its flagship platform, virtualplant, already in commercial use across high-value industrial assets, and a growing global footprint through strategic partnerships, RemSense offers investors a unique opportunity to back a scalable, revenue-generating business at the forefront of digital transformation in the resource and infrastructure sectors.
Overview
RemSense Technologies Limited (ASX:REM) is an Australian technology company enabling digital transformation across resource-heavy industries through advanced asset visualisation and drone services. Originally established in 2006 as a developer of drone systems for the defence and industrial sectors, the company expanded into professional drone services in 2012.
In 2019, RemSense made a strategic expansion into high-resolution 3D asset capture and visualisation, culminating in the development of its flagship product, virtualplant. This strategic shift aligns with macro trends in digital transformation, particularly in asset-heavy industries like energy, resources, infrastructure and utilities. The company was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in 2021.
RemSense is ideally positioned to leverage the growing adoption of digital twin technologies, particularly across mining, oil & gas, manufacturing, utilities, defence, marine and aerospace industries. These sectors are increasingly embracing digital tools to improve safety, reduce costs, and manage assets more efficiently, creating strong and expanding demand for RemSense’s solutions.
In the first half of FY25, RemSense reported $3.12 million in revenue, representing a 178 percent increase over the same period in FY24. The company also recorded its first-ever net profit of $796,892 and achieved positive operational cashflow of $365,539 – a turning point that demonstrates both commercial traction and disciplined financial execution.
Strategic partnerships with Chevron, Newmont Mining and Woodside Energy highlight RemSense’s growing reputation among Tier-1 clients and its ability to scale internationally. These engagements are not pilot programs, but are real, revenue-generating contracts that reinforce RemSense’s value proposition.
Company Highlights
- Profitable Growth: Delivered $3.12 million in revenue in H1 FY25 – a 178 percent increase year-over-year
- Tier-1 Client Base: Trusted by major global operators including Chevron, Newmont and Woodside Energy for digital twin and drone technology services.
- Flagship Platform – virtualplant: A scalable, cutting edge digital twin solution providing real-time operational insights for industrial facilities and infrastructure.
- Strong legacy drone operations: RPAS Services features CASA-certified pilots and a fleet of custom-engineered drones supporting multiple industrial applications.
- Serving Critical Industries: Solutions deployed across energy, resources, utilities and infrastructure sectors undergoing rapid digital transformation.
Key Products and Services
Virtual Plant
Virtualplant is RemSense’s flagship digital platform. It’s a high-resolution 3D asset visualisation solution that allows users to explore and interact with industrial facilities remotely, as if on site. By combining drone-based photogrammetry, terrestrial LiDAR, and 360-degree imaging, virtualplant creates immersive, detailed, interactive models of infrastructure such as gas plants, processing facilities and offshore vessels.
The platform supports a wide range of critical functions including remote inspection, maintenance planning, training, safety management, and compliance documentation. It reduces the need for site travel, improves asset visibility, and helps clients identify and address risks before they become costly failures.
Virtualplant is already deployed in high-value applications. In October 2023, Woodside Energy engaged RemSense to create a visual twin of one of its floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels. In 2024, Chevron signed a series of global services agreement with RemSense to use the platform for photogrammetry scanning at gas plants in South Asia, Northwest Australia and USA, with a total contract value of more than AU$800,000. These projects reflect the platform’s global relevance and enterprise-grade capabilities.
Additional features enhance the platform’s utility:
- vTag uses AI to automatically identify and tag equipment based on nameplate data, linking it to asset registers in systems like SAP and IBM Maximo.
- vDetect automatically identifies physical defects such as corrosion, helping prioritise maintenance.
- vConnect enables real-time integration with external monitoring and data platforms, creating a unified interface for visual and operational intelligence.
These capabilities make virtualplant more than a visualisation tool, as it becomes a central intelligence layer in clients’ asset ecosystems.
RPAS (Drone) Services
RemSense has a strong legacy in drone operations, with CASA-certified pilots and a fleet of custom-engineered drones equipped with high-end imaging and sensing tools. These drone services support asset inspections, geophysical and vegetation surveys, water sampling, environmental monitoring, traffic studies, and building condition assessments.
Drone data is often the first step in creating virtualplant models. This seamless integration of field data acquisition and platform-based analysis ensures RemSense delivers a complete, end-to-end digital solution for industrial clients.
Management Team
Ross Taylor – Non-executive Chairman
Ross Taylor chartered accountant with a global finance background having worked in London, Australia, New York and Tokyo. He has held senior roles at Deutsche Bank, Bankers Trust and Barclays Capital. His experience in international capital markets brings strong governance and financial oversight to RemSense’s board.
Warren Cook – Managing Director & CEO
With over 25 years of experience in technology development and commercialisation, Warren Cook has led projects in mining, energy and environmental sectors across more than a dozen countries, including Australia, US, Brazil, Canada, France, Indonesia, South Africa and the UK. He was the CEO of acQuire Technology Solutions, delivering information management software solutions for the resources industry.
John Clegg – Non-executive Director
John Clegg has been a chartered accountant since 1965 and has supported more than 50 companies through IPOs, restructures, and strategic growth initiatives. Following his 16-year tenure at Arthur Young & Co (now Ernst & Young), he shifted focus to startup ventures, offering directorship and consulting services. As a seasoned investor, director, consultant and mentor to senior executives, Clegg has left a significant mark on numerous ventures.Keep reading...Show less
09 April
ASX AI Stocks: 5 Biggest Companies in 2025
Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to evolve and advance rapidly, becoming increasingly integrated in the automation of everyday life and a focal point of growth in the technology sector.
According to a September 2023 report from IDC on worldwide AI spending, Australia, along with Korea and India, is leading the Asia-Pacific region in spending on AI solutions; the three countries are also leading when it comes to AI adoption in the area. Spending in the region, excluding Japan and China, is expected to reach US$28.2 billion by 2027.
Although the AI market is relatively small in Australia, it’s growing. To help investors understand the options available, the Investing News Network used TradingView's stock screener to find the top AI stocks on ASX by market cap. All ASX AI stocks data was current as of April 7, 2025. companies whose businesses are focused mainly on AI were considered.
1. NEXTDC (ASX:NXT)
Market cap: AU$6.82 billion
Share price: AU$10.00
NEXTDC is Australia’s leading data centre operator, with 17 functioning centres and at least 12 more in various stages of development throughout Oceania. The company has also forged several business and academic partnerships to enhance Australia's digital infrastructure, including a collaboration with La Trobe Business School’s Research Centre for Data Analytics and Cognition to research theoretical and practical applications of AI across a range of industries.
In August 2024, NEXTDC obtained NVIDIA's (NASDAQ:NVDA) DGX-Ready Data Centre Program certification, enabling it to optimize NVIDIA's AI platforms and power advanced AI data centres in Australia.
The company was also the recipient of the Pacific Telecommunications Council's Outstanding Data Centre Company award for 2025.
In March 2025, NEXTDC's Sydney location upgraded its AXON platform — a system that connects different cloud services and data centers — to offer super-fast 100 gigabits per second connections, which will help businesses use AI technology more effectively by providing the necessary high-speed and reliable links to their data and partners.
2. Megaport (ASX:MPI)
Market cap: AU$1.47 billion
Share price: AU$8.66
Megaport is a software-defined network service provider that allows enterprise customers to connect between data centres. The company offers a marketplace where customers can find and connect with various service providers within the Megaport ecosystem.
The firm's customer base includes cloud service providers like Amazon's (NASDAQ:AMZN) Amazon Web Services and Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Microsoft Azure. Megaport's service also allows customers to link their own equipment across different sites and connect to internet exchange points.
Its Megaport Virtual Edge allows the deployment of virtual network devices like routers and firewalls without needing physical hardware in a data centre.
3. NUIX (ASX:NXL)
Market cap: AU$896.29 million
Share price: AU$2.55
Nuix specializes in investigative analytics and intelligence software, with tools to help organizations analyze and understand copious amounts of data using AI. Nuix's Natural Language Processing capabilities allow it to read unstructured formats, including emails and social media posts. Its machine learning algorithms include advanced abilities like semantic search and risk scoring to identify patterns and connections within the data.
Nuix can handle extremely large data sets, and its software is designed to operate at a forensic level, ensuring that data is collected and analyzed in a way that is legally sound and defensible in court. This gives Nuix a significant market share within the law enforcement and legal communities.
4. BrainChip (ASX:BRN)
Market cap: AU$380.77 million
Share price: AU$0.18
BrainChip is the company behind Akida, a revolutionary digital neuromorphic chip that’s built with a spiking neural network, a type of artificial network that mimics the way messages are passed between neurons in the human brain.
Because the AI is inside the chip, the chip can learn on its own and is not reliant on the cloud or other networks. According to the company, this makes it much more secure and reduces latency.
In June 2024, the company released a white paper for its newly developed technology, TENNs-PLEIADES, an efficient AI processor that can perform complex tasks like decision-making, object recognition and data analysis. BrainChip's lowest-power version of the chip, called Akida Pico, was released on October 1 of that year.
Unlike Akida, this chip is designed for spatiotemporal classification and detection using event-based data, making it particularly well-suited for low-latency applications such as self-driving cars.
BrainChip showcased its advancements in event-based vision at Embedded World 2025 and announced a partnership with Information System Laboratories focused on AI-based radar research solutions based on Akida.
5. Weebit Nano (ASX:WBT)
Market cap: AU$333.61 million
Share price: AU$1.46
While Weebit Nano isn't directly developing AI applications or algorithms, its core technology, Resistive Random-Access Memory (ReRAM), is positioned to be a crucial enabler for the future of AI, particularly in the realm of edge AI and neuromorphic computing. ReRAM's low-power operation and potential for high-density make it a promising memory technology for building neuromorphic chips.
Weebit Nano's target markets are heavily driven by AI, such as autonomous vehicles, robotics and advanced Internet of Things devices. As of March 2025, the company is collaborating with companies like Embedded AI Systems to demonstrate the advantage of ReRAM in ultra-low-power applications.
FAQs for investing in AI
What is artificial intelligence?
AI is defined as human intelligence exhibited by machines. The development of graphics processing units with faster and more powerful chips has supported the emergence of AI technologies.
Where is AI used?
AI has been heralded as a technology of the fourth industrial revolution, with heavy investment from industries including transportation, manufacturing, education and agriculture. Some of the sectors that will likely see the fastest AI investment growth in the coming years are healthcare, pharmaceutical research, retail, industrial automation, finance and intelligent process automation.
How to invest in AI stocks?
Investors looking to capitalise on AI's growth potential have a number of entry points when it comes to stocks. It's key for each person to practise due diligence and speak to their broker to determine the most suitable investments.
The companies listed above have a strong focus on AI, but investing in companies that are using AI as part of a larger business model is one way to gain indirect exposure to the sector. Examples of stocks like this on the ASX include Block (ASX:SQ2), WiseTech Global (ASX:WTC), Seek (ASX:SEK) and Xero (ASX:XRO).
For a more diversified approach, the Betashares Global Robotics and Artificial Intelligence ETF (ASX:RBTZ) invests in companies involved in the development of AI applications all across the globe. Investing in an exchange-traded fund is a low-cost way to benefit from a sector without directly buying individual stocks.
This is an updated version of an article first published by the Investing News Network in 2020.
Don’t forget to follow us @INN_Australia for real-time updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
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08 April
AI Market Update: Q1 2025 in Review
The first quarter of 2025 was dynamic and often volatile for the tech sector. Initial optimism, fueled by investor enthusiasm after a strong 2024, quickly gave way to economic headwinds and market anxieties.
Concerns over monetary policy, global trade tensions and individual company performances led to variations in tech stock valuations, with the Magnificent Seven ultimately experiencing losses by March.
However, Q1 also brought groundbreaking developments in artificial intelligence (AI), intense competition in the semiconductor industry and new developments in AI agents and robotics.
How did tech stocks perform in Q1?
The performance of major tech companies was influenced by a confluence of events and trends in Q1.
The sector began the year in positive territory, reflecting optimism from investors who saw US President Donald Trump’s November victory as a boon for business. However, this upward trend proved short-lived.
Economic headwinds, most notably cautious monetary policy and investor anxieties about global trade disruption, triggered a market downturn that resulted in periods of tech stock selloffs.
The tech market did demonstrate some signs of recovery in the final week of the quarter.
AI results impact major tech players
Outside overall market impacts, tech companies experienced their own fluctuations in Q1.
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) was boosted by acquisition rumors and a stronger-than-expected Q4 performance, after starting the year down nearly 60 percent from January 2024. Leadership changes mid-March and reports of a restructuring to its chip-manufacturing business further improved the firm's share price performance.
More broadly, the market's response to earnings reports highlighted the significant impact of cloud computing, AI investment strategies and future guidance for Big Tech companies.
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), for example, fell after its results revealed weakness in its cloud computing unit despite revenue that exceeded estimates. Similarly, Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) saw their share prices decline after capacity restraints were cited as a limitation for both companies.
In contrast, Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) surged after it announced substantial AI investments and released results that exceeded expectations. Meanwhile, concerns about Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) AI strategy and sales in Asia led to turbulence in its trading patterns throughout the quarter. Even NVIDIA's (NASDAQ:NVDA) share price initially dipped following strong earnings, driven by market concerns about competition and geopolitical tensions.
Emergent player CoreWeave's (NASDAQ:CRWV) journey to its initial public offering demonstrated the volatile and challenging nature of going public in the rapidly evolving AI sector. After its initial announcement revealed a 700 percent increase in 2024 revenue, the company made major moves leading up to its debut, acquiring Weights & Biases for US$1.7 billion before securing a five year, US$11.9 billion cloud services contract with OpenAI.
However, CoreWeave's March 28 IPO coincided with a hotter-than-expected inflation reading, and the company raised roughly US$1 billion less than its target, with both the number of shares and share price lower than expected.
China's DeepSeek makes AI market waves
Beyond individual company performances, the quarter was marked by key developments in AI.
The release of China's open-source AI model, DeepSeek-R-1, created a significant market disruption when it was reported to perform comparably to models from OpenAI and Anthropic at a significantly lower training cost: US$5.6 million compared to the US$500 million OpenAI reportedly spent to train o1.
The market’s reaction resulted in a 17 percent loss to NVIDIA's market cap, the largest single-day loss for any company on Wall Street. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (INDEXNASDAQ:SOX) lost 9.2 percent.
OpenAI’s Sam Altman expressed curiosity and excitement about the competitor, while others saw it as a development that could increase return on investment for companies using AI and drive further innovation.
“We still don’t know the details and nothing has been 100 percent confirmed … but if there truly has been a breakthrough in the cost to train models from US$100 million+ to this alleged US$6 million number this is actually very positive for productivity and AI end users,” said Jon Withaar, senior portfolio manager at Pictet Asset Management.
Since its release, DeepSeek has been noted to have potential issues with accuracy and security.
Other companies making strides in AI training speed this past quarter include Foxconn Technology (TPE:2354), which reportedly trained its large language model (LLM), FoxBrain, in four weeks.
Celestial AI secured funding to advance photonics technology for more efficient AI computing, and Cohere introduced Command A, an LLM focused on business needs and optimized for efficient inference.
Pluralis Research received funding for its work on decentralized AI systems and “protocol learning,” a method designed to enable collaborative and distributed AI model training.
NVIDIA's chip-making competitors
Competition within the chip industry heated up in the first quarter as AI spending enthusiasm shifted to other semiconductor companies and custom chip development advanced.
Barclay’s (NYSE:BCS,LSE:BARC) analyst Thomas O’Malley reaffirmed his "buy" rating for NVIDIA on January 20 and raised his price target to US$175, but warned that NVIDIA's customers are looking for alternatives to its GPUs.
He identified Marvel Technology (NASDAQ:MRVL) and Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) as NVIDIA's biggest contenders, adjusting their price targets to US$150 and US$260, respectively.
For its part, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) (NYSE:TSM) has continued to experience strong demand for its chip-making services. Its quarterly profits for Q4 2024 reached a record, and the company is anticipating strong revenue growth moving forward. The firm has planned significant investments in technology and capacity, including US$100 billion for new facilities to boost US chip production.
ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML), the sole producer of the EUV lithography machines crucial for advanced AI chips, also exceeded Q4 earnings expectations, resulting in a positive effect on its share price.
AI agents and other emerging tech
Looking ahead, the market for AI agents — autonomous entities that can take actions to achieve specific goals — is poised for expansion. At its annual GPU Technology Conference, held from March 17 to 21, NVIDIA's CEO emphasized a shift from generative AI to physical AI, describing AI agents as a “multi-trillion dollar opportunity."
Strategic acquisitions, such as ServiceNow's intention to buy Moveworks, underscore the growing importance of agentic AI in enterprise solutions. Amazon Web Services is developing a team focused on developing agentic AI, betting on increased client spending for automation. Meta is gearing up to test AI agents for small businesses, and OpenAI is developing premium agent offerings for business and academic pursuits.
While these advancements are exciting, challenges remain, with Gartner predicting a sharp rise in AI agent-related security breaches by 2028. To address reliability, Microsoft is developing "deep reasoning agents."
The first quarter of 2025 also signaled a major acceleration in robotics development, with Google's new Gemini Robotics models and partnership with Apptronik indicating AI and robotic integration. The US$2 billion valuation for Kyle Vogt's the Bot Company suggests the robotics sector is poised for growth and market expansion.
Advances like Eliza Wakes Up's humanoid and Figure AI's in-house development signal the potential for near-term commercial availability. Funding activity, with Field AI seeking a US$2 billion valuation and Aescape securing US$83 million in strategic funding, demonstrates investor confidence in the potential of robotics.
AI data centers signal growth
The massive investments in data centers announced in Q1 foreshadow an expansion of AI infrastructure.
The Trump administration has partnered with executives from Oracle (NYSE:ORCL), OpenAI and SoftBank (TSE:9984) for a four year, US$500 billion AI infrastructure project dubbed Stargate. MGX, an Abu Dhabi-based technology investment firm focused on AI, is another equity partner in the Stargate project.
Separately, MGX is a founding partner in the AI Infrastructure Partnership, a group that includes BlackRock (NYSE:BLK), Global Infrastructure Partners and Microsoft. It is reportedly aiming to invest up to US$100 billion in US and OECD AI infrastructure. NVIDIA and xAI joined the consortium in the first quarter.
This large-scale infrastructure development is mirrored by substantial investment and product development plans from individual tech giants. Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta have all revealed plans for significant AI-related investments in the coming months that include data center builds and product releases, while NVIDIA has committed to spending "hundreds of billions of dollars in the US," emphasizing TSMC's manufacturing role in supply chain resilience.
OpenAI is also reportedly finalizing the design for its first in-house AI chip, with a long-term goal of mass production at TSMC by 2026; it is also in talks to build its first data center for storage in Texas near the Stargate data center.
These developments point to a future where data centers become the battleground for AI dominance, with significant implications for energy consumption, hardware demand and technological advancement.
Investor takeaway
Wrapping up the quarter, Nick Mersch, portfolio manager at Purpose Investments, hosted an "ask me anything" session on Reddit (NASDAQ:RDDT) to share insights on what investors should consider when evaluating tech stocks.
“The number one predictor of stocks over time is their earnings power. Invest in companies that are growing earnings more than the overall market and you will win. This is easy in theory but difficult in practice. You need to look at secular trends in order to skate to where the puck is going. It is much easier to pick a winner in a sector that has strong overall growth than picking through the rubble of a beaten-down industry," said Mersch.
“However, you do also have to recognize that sometimes, this is cyclical. That's why I like to pick companies that are what I call 'compounders.' These are companies that are growing both top line (revenue) and bottom line (earnings) at a solid rate and are reinvesting in new growth avenues. At the end of the day, you need cash flow generative companies."
Mersch added, “Look for three things — earnings, earnings, and earnings.”
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Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
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