The Hot Chips 31 Symposium started this week. AI (artificial intelligence) was the hot topic among participants Intel (INTC), NVIDIA (NVDA), and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). The stocks of these three chip companies rose 1.18%, 2%, and 3.2%, respectively, on August 21 as they discussed their AI strategies. It is essential for long-term investors to understand the three companies' AI opportunity. All three have a different approach to tapping AI, so their AI TAM (total addressable value) is also different.

For the last few years, Intel (INTC) has been shifting its focus away from PC to data-centric businesses. It's looking to tap future technologies such as AI, autonomous vehicles, and 5G networking infrastructure. NVIDIA (NVDA) is a leader in the AI space. Intel has identified NVIDIA as its AI competitor, as data centers prefer the latter's Tesla GPUs (graphics processing unit) for their AI workloads. Intel has tried to compete with NVIDIA's Tesla GPUs with its Altera field-programmable gate arrays, Xeon Phi processors, and traditional Core processors.

The digital video company, which split from Baidu (BIDU), has been seeing losses since going public in the US last March. In this year's first quarter, the company's net loss jumped year-over-year to $270.3 million from $63.1 million as operating costs soared. In contrast, Tencent (TCEHY) made a profit of $4.1 billion in the first quarter, and Tencent Music (TME), a digital music company that split from Tencent and went public in December, posted a profit of $147 million. Chinese e-commerce leader Alibaba (BABA), into the movie and video streaming business through its Alibaba Pictures and Youku units, made a profit of $3.8 billion in the first quarter, and Netflix (NFLX) and Amazon (AMZN) made profits of $344 million and $3.6 billion, respectively. Amazon is also into video streaming, although its main operations are e-commerce.

Amazon (AMZN) subsidiary Amazon Web Services (or AWS) has rolled out a new set of machine learning services and the world's first deep learning camera to allow companies to take advantage of AI (artificial intelligence) in their businesses. Amazon's five machine learning services include Amazon SageMaker, Amazon Transcribe, Amazon Translate, Amazon Comprehend, and Amazon Rekognition Video. These services allow developers to build applications that easily understand human instructions. Another critical product launched was AI-powered camera DeepLens, which is similar to Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google Clips. However, the clips are targeted at consumers and not developers like DeepLens.

NVIDIA (NVDA) is moving fast in its mission to make AI (artificial intelligence) affordable. The company is expanding its efforts to create more AI researchers and developers through its DLI (Deep Learning Institute). Don't miss the next report. You are now receiving e-mail alerts for new research. A temporary password for your new Market Realist account has been sent to your e-mail address.

In the previous part of the series, we saw how AI (artificial intelligence) can solve problems in city management. NVIDIA (NVDA) is looking to tap into the AI city opportunity with its end-to-end platform solutions. At the 2017 GPU (graphics processing unit) Technology Conference, NVIDIA showcased its Metropolis edge-to-cloud AI city platform, which uses GPUs in edge devices such as cameras, and in the cloud. Don't miss the next report. You are now receiving e-mail alerts for new research.

With the growing popularity of chatbots, Facebook (FB) has set out on a bot search mission. The company is calling on IT (information technology) developers in the Middle East and Africa to participate in a challenge that would develop bots for its Messenger app (application). The company has lined up monetary and mentorship rewards for winners and finalists in the bot challenge, which begins later this year. Chatbots are particularly popular among Millennials and Generation Xers. According to Business Insider, 59.0% and 60.0% of US Millennials and Generation Xers, respectively, had tried chatbots as of late 2016.

Earlier in the series, we discussed Microsoft's recent acquisition of Simplygon in the AR space. To move ahead in the AI space, Microsoft (MSFT) announced that it plans to acquire Maluuba, an AI (artificial intelligence) startup. AI is an umbrella term that encompasses natural language processing, machine learning, and robotics. AI enables sensing, prediction, analysis, and solutions for various IT (information technology) issues. Research and algorithm development for machine learning is Maluuba's strength.

Earlier in this series, we discussed IBM's (IBM) aims to widen the realms of its Strategic Imperatives segment by focusing on marketing, CRM (customer relationship management), and customer analytics. It has increased its focus on AI (artificial intelligence), a consumer-driven technology that enables us to gauge customer sentiment. AI's natural language capabilities make it possible for human beings and computers to chat and interact in everyday language. ML (machine learning) enables the analysis of huge amounts of real world data to find trends and patterns and make predictions based on those patterns. Therefore, AI and ML can help companies ascertain whether a customer is likely to opt for a particular offering.

Earlier in this series, we learned how AI (artificial intelligence) is set to change the IT (information technology) environment, and tech players such as IBM (IBM) are leaving no stone unturned to empower themselves in the AI space. As shown in the above chart, more than 40 companies working or related to AI technologies have been acquired so far in 2016. As leading technology players make acquisitions in the AI space, it will gain visibility and spending will be enhanced. Alphabet (GOOG) topped the acquirer list with 11 acquisitions in the AI space in 2016. Oracle, Yahoo, Intel (INTC), Apple (AAPL), and Salesforce are also competing in the acquisition of AI companies.