| | | Intel, Qualcomm, Adobe, others seen as 'AI losers,' Wedbush says
Dec. 08, 2025 7:42 AM ET
By: Chris Ciaccia, SA News Editor
Artificial intelligence is completely altering how various industries spend their money, benefiting companies such as Nvidia ( NVDA), AMD ( AMD) and others. And while there may be some winners, Wedbush Securities has come up with a list of companies that are likely to be hurt by AI.
In the semiconductor and PC space, Wedbush sees the “surging computer memory demand” as squeezing companies tied to the traditional PC and handset spaces, negatively impacting Intel ( INTC), HP ( HPQ), Synaptics ( SYNA), Qualcomm ( QCOM), Qorvo ( QRVO) and Cirrus Logic ( CRUS).
“Given concentrated computer memory supply and soaring AI infrastructure driven demand, memory pricing is soaring,” analysts at the firm wrote in a note to clients. “We believe DRAM contract prices will lift 30%+ in Q4 2025 while NAND flash memory prices likely climb at least 20% with further increases expected through 2026 with hyperscalers locking up supply, while capacity adds are limited by fab space. With memory representing ~20% of PC bill of materials, a 27.5% average memory price increase translates to 5.5% COGS impact and 300-440 basis points of gross margin compression for device manufacturers such as HPQ who cannot raise prices in the highly competitive and elastic consumer PC market; alternatively, manufacturers who aggressively raise prices face severe demand destruction.”
Going beyond chips, the rise of autonomous vehicles is likely to negatively impact ride-sharing firms, such as Uber ( UBER) and Lyft ( LYFT), Wedbush added. The firm pointed to the fact that Tesla's ( TSLA) first autonomous vehicles without safety drivers will be in Austin, TX.-before the end of the year.
“Autonomous fleets can move people and goods without human labor, marking the most consequential shift in transportation economics since ride-sharing launched a decade ago,” the analysts explained. “We expect massive disruption, particularly in the transportation network space. As AV networks scale, the value accrues to platforms that own (1) the fleet, (2) the data exhaust, and (3) the closed-loop economics. This fundamentally weakens the asset-light ride-share model of UBER and LYFT.”
The advertising space is also likely to be negatively impacted, as agentic AI causes upheaval where advertisers spend their money. As such, Wedbush downgraded Pinterest ( PINS) and sees The Trade Desk ( TTD) as being negatively impacted as advertisers go after “conversion-proven ecosystems,” such as Amazon ( AMZN), Meta's Advantage+ ( META), Google's ( GOOG) ( GOOGL) Performance Max and AppLovin's ( APP) AXON 2.0.
“In an Agentic AI world, advertising spending should follow the platforms that provide the richest first-party data, measurable conversions, and the shortest 'signal-to-sale' feedback loops,” the analysts explained.
Major software-as-a-service companies, such as Adobe ( ADBE), Docusign ( DOCU) and Workday ( WDAY) are also likely to be negatively impacted. Wedbush expects some to evolve beyond their cloud-based business models and focus more on consumption, those with high-cost products are likely to be hurt.
“Like past enterprise software evolution cycles, disruptors typically first find success working with smaller companies or on niche applications before threatening entrenched competitors across core corporate functions at large enterprises. Those facing the largest threats include ADBE, DOCU, NICE and WDAY.”
In conjunction, Wedbush downgraded Nice Systems ( NICE) to Neutral from Outperform and lowered the price target to $120 from $170.
Lastly, Wedbush sees agentic AI's impact on retail as disrupting a number of areas, including intermediaries, such as Instacart ( CART).
“Generative and agentic AI automate customer support, merchandising, routing, advertising, and inventory decisions—functions that historically require headcount or domain expertise,” the analysts explained. “This gives well-capitalized players with deep data pools (e.g., Amazon, Walmart, DoorDash) the ability to expand into new verticals at lower cost and deliver more personalized customer experiences. As AI accelerates market consolidation toward integrated ecosystems, other intermediaries such as CART in delivery grocery services lose.” |
|
