🎄The AI Investing Pulse✨

December 25th, 2025

In this Week’s Edition:

1. Analysis - A Look Back at the Top Performing AI Stocks of 2025

2. Stock Ideas - Why Palantir Is Pulling Ahead In Enterprise AI

3. News - Five AI ETFs That Could Deliver Long-term Upside

4. Startups - The Most Active VC Firms Betting On AI Agents

5. Trends - Top AI Trends Shaping 2026

6. Other News - Why Human Orchestration Is The Next AI Skill

7. Videos - Tom Lee On What 2026 Could Mean For Portfolios

As we head towards the end of the year, we want to simply say thank you for reading, sharing, and supporting our newsletter throughout the year. We’re genuinely grateful to have such a thoughtful and engaged community, and we truly appreciate every message, share, and conversation along the way.

We are keeping things light this week. Rather than a full article, we’re sharing a quick snapshot of the top 10 AI-related stocks of the year, selected from our wider universe of 173 AI stocks and ranked purely by year-to-date performance.

As we look ahead to 2026, we’d also love to hear from you. If there are themes, companies, or questions you’d like us to explore in the year ahead, please do share your suggestions with us.

We wish you a Merry Christmas, a wonderful festive season, and all the very best as we head into the new year.

We will be back next week taking a closer look at what could be in store for 2026.

A Look Back at the Top Performing AI Stocks of 2025

Looking across the top 10 performers, hardware clearly dominated 2025, with most of the strongest returns coming from the core infrastructure layers of the AI stack. Memory, storage, semiconductor equipment, server manufacturing, and cloud compute firms made up the bulk of the list, reflecting where capital was most heavily deployed as AI capacity scaled.

However, it is notable that the single best-performing stock came from the energy sector, with Bloom Energy topping the rankings. This highlights the growing importance of reliable power for AI data centres, even if energy exposure remains limited within the top 10 overall.

Looking ahead, 2026 could mark a shift towards applications, as businesses focus on applying AI across their operations, embedding it into workflows, decision-making, and customer-facing processes. If 2025 was about building AI, the next phase may be about using it to drive real productivity and business outcomes.

Here are the top 10 performers of 2025.

Bloom Energy Corp $BE ( ▲ 0.49% )  

Sector: Energy
AI Stack: Power & Cooling

YTD Price Total Return: 313.7%

Clean energy technology company providing fuel-cell solutions, increasingly tied to AI data centres and power-hungry digital infrastructure.

ViaSat Inc $VSAT ( ▼ 2.06% )  

Sector: Technology
AI Stack: Network & Connectivity

YTD Price Total Return: 313.0%

Satellite communications provider benefiting from rising global demand for connectivity, defence applications, and AI-enabled network optimisation.

Micron Technology Inc $MU ( ▲ 3.77% )  

Sector: Technology
AI Stack: Hardware & Infrastructure

YTD Price Total Return: 241.6%

Leading memory and semiconductor manufacturer supplying critical DRAM and NAND chips used in AI training, inference, and hyperscale data centres.

Seagate Technology PLC $STX ( ▲ 1.14% )  

Sector: Technology
AI Stack: Hardware & Infrastructure

YTD Price Total Return: 236.9%

Global leader in data storage, supported by accelerating AI-driven demand for high-capacity and enterprise-grade storage solutions.

Celestica Inc $CLS ( ▲ 1.69% )  

Sector: Technology
AI Stack: Hardware & Infrastructure

YTD Price Total Return: 234.3%

Electronics manufacturing and supply-chain specialist supporting AI servers, networking hardware, and advanced computing infrastructure.

Nebius Group NV $NBIS ( ▲ 1.22% )  

Sector: Technology
AI Stack: Hardware & Infrastructure

YTD Price Total Return: 229.0%

AI-focused cloud and infrastructure provider offering specialised compute platforms tailored for machine learning workloads.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions $KTOS ( ▼ 2.83% )  

Sector: Industrials
AI Stack: Application & Edge

YTD Price Total Return: 203.1%

Defence technology company applying AI to autonomous systems, unmanned platforms, and next-generation security solutions.

Hut 8 Corp $HUT ( ▲ 0.63% )  

Sector: Technology
AI Stack: Hardware & Infrastructure / Network & Connectivity

YTD Price Total Return: 157.7%

Digital infrastructure company expanding from crypto mining into AI-focused data centres and high-performance computing.

Palantir Technologies Inc $PLTR ( ▲ 0.02% )  

Sector: Technology
AI Stack: Data & Integration / Application & Edge

YTD Price Total Return: 156.7%

Enterprise AI and data analytics leader delivering decision-making platforms for governments and large organisations.

Lam Research Corp $LRCX ( ▲ 1.24% )  

Sector: Technology
AI Stack: Hardware & Infrastructure

YTD Price Total Return: 147.8%

Semiconductor equipment manufacturer supplying critical tools used in the production of advanced chips for AI and high-performance computing.

Final Take

Thank you again for your trust, your time, and your support throughout 2025. We’re excited for what’s ahead in 2026.

🎄Wishing you a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a fantastic start to the new year. ✨

_{Disclaimer - This content is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, personal recommendations, or an invitation to engage in any investment activity. The information presented is derived from publicly available sources and should not be solely relied upon for making investment decisions. Always consult with a qualified financial professional before making investment choices. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.}

^{About AIIP - The AIIP Index tracks 173 AI-focused public companies across the full AI stack, serving as our benchmark for sector performance. All scores are proprietary and calculated using data from Finbox (powered by S&P Global Intelligence). AIIP Total Score (0–100) combines metrics for sales and EPS growth, financial quality, and valuation to assess overall business strength. AIIP Relative Strength (RS) Score measures a stock’s price performance relative to the AIIP 173 AI stocks. Ranking Status is based on score combinations: Fundamental: Total Score ≥ 70, RS < 80. Momentum: RS ≥ 80, Total Score < 70. Watchlist: Total Score ≥ 70 and RS ≥ 80}

TOP AI STOCKS PERFORMANCE

TOP AI ETFs PERFORMANCE

AI STOCKS IDEAS

Why Palantir Is Pulling Ahead In Enterprise AI – Yahoo Finance
Read more

Who Will Win The Quantum Computing Race? – The Motley Fool
Read more

AI-driven Cybersecurity Fuels Investor Appetite – Yahoo Finance
Read more

AI STOCKS & ETFS NEWS

Five AI ETFs That Could Deliver Long-term Upside – MSN Money
A selection of AI-focused ETFs is gaining attention for potential five-year growth, with exposure across healthcare, finance and enterprise software.
Read more

Canaccord Reaffirms Tesla Buy Rating – Nasdaq
Canaccord Genuity has reiterated its Buy rating on Tesla, lifting its price target to $551. The firm expects strong revenue growth driven by AI-enabled autonomy and energy solutions, viewing current market pressures as temporary rather than structural.
Read more

Big Tech’s Growing AI Debt Problem – Fudzilla
Major technology companies are quietly accumulating significant debt to fund AI infrastructure. If growth expectations fail to materialise, high leverage and declining asset values could pose material financial risks for the sector.
Read more

Global Investors Shift Toward Chinese AI Stocks – The Economic Times
With US tech valuations stretched, global investors are increasingly exploring Chinese AI companies. Interest is growing around IPO-bound chipmakers and AI startups, supported by China’s push for technological self-reliance.
Read more

AI STARTUPS

The Most Active VC Firms Betting On AI Agents – PitchBook
Venture capital investment in AI agents is accelerating, accounting for 63% of US VC funding in 2025. The most active firms are doubling down on autonomous systems that promise productivity gains across multiple industries.
Read more

The Roles Startups Will Prioritise In 2026 – Sifted
European startups are preparing for leaner teams in 2026, prioritising full-stack engineers, RevOps leaders and fractional recruiters.
Read more

AI TRENDS

Top AI Trends Shaping 2026 – Appinventiv
By 2026, AI adoption is expected to deepen across industries, driven by advances in reasoning, multi-modal systems and a stronger focus on safety.
Read more

Nine Agentic AI Trends To Watch – TechInformed
Agentic AI is moving rapidly from experimentation to real-world deployment. Key trends include increased autonomy, improved reasoning and deeper integration into enterprise workflows.
Read more

OTHERS

Why Human Orchestration Is The Next AI Skill – CIOL
As AI scales across organisations, the ability to orchestrate systems, workflows and oversight is emerging as a core enterprise capability. New roles and skills are forming around managing collaboration between humans and AI.
Read more

How Leaders Actually Used AI Agents In 2025 – ERP Today
Enterprise leaders share practical lessons from deploying AI agents, highlighting data readiness, hybrid reasoning models and effective change management as critical factors for scaling beyond pilot projects.
Read more

VIDEOS

Tom Lee On What 2026 Could Mean For Portfolios – CNBC
Read more

The Case For Nvidia Reaching $275 – Yahoo Finance
Read more

_{Disclaimer - The information contained on this newsletter does not constitute investment advice or a personal recommendation, nor is it an invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity. You should seek independent financial and, if appropriate, legal advice as to the suitability of any investment decision. Past performance is not a guide to future performance. The value of investments, and the income from them, can fall as well as rise. You may not get back the full amount invested and, in some cases, nothing at all. The information presented is based on publicly available data and sources believed to be reliable; however, its accuracy or completeness cannot be guaranteed. Market conditions can change rapidly, and the information provided may no longer be up to date. This content is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial, legal, or tax advice. Data sources: S&P Global Market Intelligence}