Nvidia Corporation (NVDA) closed Thursday's trading session at $204.87, marking a 2.22% increase, and extended gains in early premarket trading Friday to near $205.45. The move came amid a broader semiconductor rally that lifted the PHLX Semiconductor Index by 7.91%, its largest single-day gain since April 2025, and propelled major U.S. indexes higher.
According to a Reuters report, Nvidia is actively pitching its new Vera central processing units (CPUs) to Chinese clients, with shipments potentially beginning as early as August. The company has already started taking orders, signaling an aggressive push to recapture market share in China that has been eroded by U.S. export controls and Beijing's push for domestic chip alternatives. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang stated last October that the company's share in China had fallen to nearly zero.
The Vera CPU represents Nvidia's first standalone processor designed specifically for agentic artificial intelligence workloads. Reuters reported that Nvidia claims the Vera chip runs up to 1.8 times faster than comparable offerings from competitors. One major Chinese cloud provider has indicated plans to test more than 300 Vera servers, though software integration challenges and migration hurdles could slow broader adoption.
Nvidia's market capitalization remains near the $5 trillion threshold, with Google Finance estimating it at approximately $4.96 trillion. The stock's 52-week range spans from $140.86 to $236.54. The broader market also benefited from the semiconductor strength, with the Nasdaq Composite jumping 2.54% to 25,809.66, the S&P 500 rising 1.75% to 7,394.30, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 1.86% to close at 50,848.75.
In a strategic move to navigate the complex regulatory landscape, Nvidia has hired Bruce Andrews as its new head of government affairs in Washington. Andrews, a former chief of government relations at Intel and a Commerce Department official under President Barack Obama, announced the appointment on LinkedIn, stating he looks forward to helping Nvidia lead the AI revolution.
Nvidia also announced that its 2026 annual stockholder meeting will be held virtually on Wednesday, June 24, at 9 a.m. PT. Shareholders will be able to vote and submit questions during the event, with details outlined in the proxy statement filed with the SEC on May 12.
The latest stock movement follows Nvidia's robust first-quarter fiscal 2027 earnings report, which showed revenue of $81.6 billion, an 85% year-over-year increase. Data Center revenue alone reached $75.2 billion, up 92%. The company also authorized an additional $80 billion for share repurchases and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.25 per share. CEO Jensen Huang described the ongoing buildout of AI factories as "the largest infrastructure expansion in human history."
Despite the positive momentum, analysts caution that policy risks remain significant. The U.S. export controls and China's domestic semiconductor ambitions continue to pose challenges for Nvidia's China strategy. However, the strong demand for AI chips and the potential of the Vera CPU could provide a pathway for the company to rebuild its presence in the world's second-largest economy.
