NEW YORK, July 3, 2026 — U.S. equity markets will be closed Friday for the Independence Day holiday, but Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) heads into the break with a modest weekly gain, even as the broader semiconductor sector faced headwinds. Shares of the chip giant closed Thursday at $194.83, down 1.39% for the session, but still 1.2% higher than the prior Friday’s close. The stock remains 17.6% below its May 14 peak of $236.54, reflecting ongoing investor caution about future revenue growth.
Nvidia’s performance outpaced the chip sector in the past week. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SMH) dropped 3.2% over the same period, while the Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ), which tracks large-cap tech, eked out a 0.9% gain. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.8% on Thursday, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index tumbled 5.4%, according to Reuters. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, however, closed at an all-time high, suggesting a rotation out of tech and into other sectors.
Cloud Partners Target 210,000 GPUs
Two of Nvidia’s named cloud partners are scaling up their infrastructure plans. Firmus Technologies, a private firm, aims to deploy up to 170,000 Nvidia AI accelerators at its 360-megawatt Batam campus, with an offtake deal valued at $25 billion to $30 billion over the first six years. That works out to approximately $147,000 to $176,000 per planned accelerator. SharonAI Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SHAZ), a publicly traded partner, plans to deploy up to 40,000 Grace Blackwell GB300 GPUs, backed by a $1.6 billion private placement. Combined, the two partners target up to 210,000 GPUs.
Firmus’s deal with Nvidia runs through 2034 and includes accelerators for the Grace-Blackwell, Vera-Rubin, and Vera platforms into 2027 and 2028. “AI-native companies need scalable, energy and cost-efficient compute infrastructure to compete globally,” said Firmus co-CEO Tim Rosenfield. SharonAI CEO James Manning noted that demand for GPU compute is “significantly outpacing supply.”
Revenue-Sharing Model Shifts Focus
Nvidia is increasingly emphasizing a revenue-sharing and credit-support model for AI cloud firms. Under this arrangement, Nvidia receives its typical product revenue plus a cut of the cloud revenue from the supported capacity. Colette Kress and Raj Mirpuri stated that new AI firms have faced “limited access to capital-intensive infrastructure,” and the deal structure builds a “recurring, usage-linked earnings stream.” This shift moves investor focus from chip shipment volumes to factors like utilization rates, customer credit quality, and cloud revenue generation.
The financial details of Nvidia’s cloud revenue share have not been disclosed. Nvidia’s market cap stood near $4.75 trillion at Thursday’s close, with the stock trading at about 29.7 times earnings.
Market Context and Analyst Views
Bruce Zaro of Granite Wealth Management suggested investors were “taking profits in chip stocks” after a strong run. Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investments noted that softer jobs data “takes the pressure off the Fed” for now, providing some relief to rate-sensitive tech names. The mixed signals left Nvidia in a narrow trading range.
SharonAI shares fell 14.3% on Thursday to $67.91, a stark contrast to Nvidia’s more modest decline. The divergence highlights the market’s cautious view of the AI infrastructure buildout, where high capital commitments carry execution risk.
Markets reopen Monday, July 6, after the holiday break. Traders will watch whether the $192.53 support level holds for Nvidia, and how SharonAI’s stock performs after its sharp drop.
