Artificial intelligence, and the resulting global AI race, has been a dominant investing theme. Companies are pouring billions into developing cutting-edge artificial intelligence models and infrastructure. However, the landscape shifted dramatically at the end of January when Chinese startup DeepSeek announced that it developed AI models nearly on par with American rivals, despite using inferior chips and less data. This triggered a global selloff in the tech sector as questions arose about the lofty valuations of AI-related stocks and Silicon Valley’s business model, which relies heavily on extensive research and development spending.
However, while some investors were hitting the panic button, Bank of America noted that the pullback created unique buying opportunities in certain stocks. The firm spotlighted Corning (GLW), Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (HPE), Western Digital Corporation (WDC), and Seagate Technology Holdings (STX), pointing out that “each name has compelling growth drivers separate from Gen AI/datacenter spending.” BofA also pointed to Apple (AAPL) and International Business Machines (IBM), citing their defensive characteristics and potential for growth amid market volatility. With that, let’s have a closer look at these stocks.
