Nvidia Corporation (NVDA) shares surged nearly 3% on Thursday, closing near $210 per share and pushing the chipmaker's market capitalization to approximately $5.1 trillion. The rally came as semiconductor stocks rebounded from a Federal Reserve-driven selloff earlier in the week, with the broader market also gaining ground. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.9% to 26,517.93, while the S&P 500 rose 1.1% to 7,500.58. U.S. markets will be closed Friday for the Juneteenth holiday.
The move higher reflects investor confidence that artificial intelligence spending will continue to expand beyond the largest U.S. cloud operators, known as hyperscalers. At the VivaTech conference in Paris, discussions centered on Europe's push for "sovereign AI" — local control over data, models and computing infrastructure. IBM senior vice president Ana Paula Assis emphasized that sovereignty is "about having control where it matters — not where the technology is from."
Nvidia disclosed that French AI developer Mistral's first deployment at a 44-megawatt data center is now operating with 18,000 GB200 systems. Mistral has set a target of 200 megawatts of European capacity by 2027 and is planning a 1.4-gigawatt AI campus — a large-scale data center designed primarily for training and running AI models. While these projects are not yet booked as revenue guidance and many will take years to complete, they suggest Europe could emerge as a significant new demand driver rather than simply replacing U.S. spending. Publicis chairman Maurice Lévy called for a 100 billion-euro regional AI fund, stating, "There is a need to create a fund at a European scale."
The buying was not limited to Nvidia. Intel (INTC) jumped approximately 10.6% after President Donald Trump announced that Apple had agreed to collaborate with the chipmaker on U.S. chip design and manufacturing. Micron Technology (MU) gained about 8.6%, and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) rose roughly 4.7%.
Nvidia's financing activities also remained in focus. The company completed a $25 billion, seven-part bond sale on Thursday, raising approximately $24.92 billion before expenses. The unsecured bonds — debt not backed by specific assets — have maturities extending through 2056. Investor demand was robust, with orders reaching $85 billion. According to Reuters, the primary objective was to establish a liquid benchmark for Nvidia's borrowing costs rather than to fund near-term capital spending.
The bond sale follows a sharp expansion in Nvidia's operating results. First-quarter revenue surged 85% to $81.6 billion, with data-center revenue climbing 92% to $75.2 billion. The company forecast second-quarter revenue of $91 billion, plus or minus 2%, assuming no data-center computing revenue from China.
Despite the positive momentum, risks remain. Europe's sovereignty campaign could expand the total addressable market but may also steer some public procurement toward local suppliers. Large data-center projects are subject to delays due to power availability, permitting, or financing issues. Additionally, a renewed oil shock or a more hawkish Federal Reserve path could increase the discount rate used to value future profits, potentially pressuring highly valued chip stocks. Markets continued to price in possible U.S. rate increases after Thursday's rally.
Nvidia's next scheduled company event is its virtual annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday, June 24, at 9 a.m. Pacific time. Investors will be listening for any fresh details on capital deployment, European expansion, and access to China, although the meeting notice did not promise an operating update.
