AI driving growth in tech stocks: Apple, BrainChip, Amazon

Apple - Scaling into the AI-driven healthcare market

At this year's Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple (ISIN US0378331005) unveiled a new tool designed to facilitate medication tracking and other health-related functions. The "Medications" feature in the Health app is available on both the Apple Watch and the iPhone. It allows users to manage their medications, vitamins and supplements. The camera can scan a pill bottle and help you take your medication on time.

Apple users are very familiar with the artificial intelligence called "Siri." The built-in control assistant with the friendly female voice is activated via voice control and can execute light applications on cue. Like a virtual assistant, Siri can open applications on the iPhone, save notes, and call contacts.

Apple Health users are used to recording their steps. The Apple Watch already measures blood oxygen and heart rate and automatically switches to exercise records as soon as the motion sensors register a steady step rhythm. The built-in AI activates an emergency call system if a fall occurs and the Apple Watch wearer stops moving altogether.

The next innovative step especially helps people with chronic diseases to take their medication regularly. In the US, users can also receive alerts about potential drug interactions when they upload a new prescription. This tool is ideal for families who want to share medication data along with other health data. Thinking further, this creates logistics chains with mail-order pharmacies or medication delivery services.What at first glance seems like commercialization in the secondary healthcare market has the potential to make a breakthrough in digital health.

Apple has been supplying hospitals and doctors-in-training in the B2B segment for years. Future doctors are getting used to the iOS interface and its handling, so building a digital ecosystem around health data will only be a matter of time. The tech giant also announced that a new feature to detect atrial fibrillation will be available in watchOS 9. This is a heart condition that, if detected early, can be well treated.

The new FDA-approved feature will allow users to closely track their heart rhythm and determine if signs of atrial fibrillation are present. And once a Siri gently whispers to move more, the more Siri learns from each user through body vital signs, the more likely it is to give digital AI a chance in terms of personal behavior change.

Even though tech is still shaken in the stock market, Tim Cook's vision of Apple becoming the health brand and pioneer in digital health is becoming a reality. Apple offers investors a good opportunity to capture the healthcare market through AI and Big Data.

BrainChip - IP as a business model for learning AI systems

Artificial intelligence like Siri or Amazon's Alexa need memory to archive their learning. On the one hand, it needs semiconductors to create the physical space. On the other hand, learning successes are created by programmed algorithms that are able to continue changing themselves. This process is comparable to the human brain. The grey matter in the head is the physical location for the millions of nerve cells, which, depending on the training and application, continually reconnect and provide the appropriate output in their neuronal impulses.

Artificial intelligence with self-learning capabilities is the business of BrainChip Holdings. Its business model is based on licensing the intellectual property of this AI to achieve the greatest possible scale and reach.

BrainChip's flagship product Akida™ (ISIN AU0000BRN8) is the first neuromorphic processor IP on the market that mimics the human brain. Neuromorphic computers use architectures and principles similar to information processing in the brain. IT systems based on electronic models of neural circuits are called "neuromorphic." AI is executed locally on the chip, significantly reducing latency. By running processes directly on the chip, Akida is independent of cloud providers, which increases data privacy and security of applications. Cloud freedom allows data to be processed in place." Michael Dell, who has been very successful in the technology industry for some time, estimates that about 10% of all computing and data takes place on the chip. By 2025, he expects at least 75%. That is a significant shift," explains CEO Sean Hehir.

Wherever the greatest possible data security is required, technology like Akida is used. Be it in the healthcare sector with highly sensitive patient and drug data, cybersecurity technology companies or autonomous driving and electric mobility worldwide. Large corporations, intermediaries and SMEs form the target groups of BrainChip Holdings. The Australian company has already established partnerships with, for example, the Japanese semiconductor manufacturer MegaChips, which generally already develops highly complex AI and machine learning systems in-house. MegaChips focuses on automotive and industrial equipment growth areas, such as 5G communications infrastructure and factory automation. In addition, BrainChip serves mid-sized companies that want to deploy AI but only have a small developer team of three or four employees. This is where chip manufacturers or developers come in, and BrainChip provides them with its licensing model. The growth potential for neuromorphic AI systems that do not require the cloud is enormous. More information on the go-to-market strategy can be found here.

Amazon - Cloud business growth driver

In contrast to BrainChip's model, top dog Amazon (ISIN US0231351067) continues to focus on expanding its Amazon Web Services (AWS) in the cloud. E-commerce merchants, who care more about their business than their end customers' data security, are using the many tools available in the cloud-based offering. Amazon Web Services consists of more than 200 services, including telephony and machine learning. Companies that use AWS are Netflix, Facebook and Airbnb. They value the smooth flow of services for their own scaling.

If platform services like Netflix were to acquire their own servers, this could have a negative impact on profit forecasts because the international service would mean that they would have to build their own data centers worldwide. The "everything from a single source" model, or turnkey solution in technical jargon, continues to send Amazon's share price hurtling upward. In the first quarter of 2022, the AWS division grew revenue by 37% to EUR 17.2 billion. With a market share of 33%, Amazon is the leader in the cloud business, ahead of Microsoft and Alphabet.

With the artificial intelligence Alexa, Amazon succeeded in entering countless private households. However, the AI based on voice control has a disadvantage: through the connection to the Amazon Cloud, it becomes a privacy spy because Alexa listens to everything. One would rather have a device with an Akida chip for pure local data processing.

Tracking and collecting health data from the Quantified Self movement is coming of age. Apple in Cupertino succeeds in taking the next growth step in the huge health market. With the latest updates, Apple users are able to measure highly sensitive patient data to maintain and improve health themselves. For such purposes, Australian company BrainChip Holdings has developed a neuromorphic processor IP named Akida, which companies can use as a licensing model. The big advantage is that the local edge solution keeps the data in place. Security is one of the most important purchasing decisions for large corporations, especially in times of cyberattacks. On the other hand, Amazon is growing through its cloud business as it relieves platform-based companies such as Netflix, Airbnb and Facebook of needing to purchase data centers. The AWS division grew 37% in Q1 2022.