TLDR
- Nvidia stock rose 0.8% in premarket trading Monday, outperforming the broader market as its annual GTC developers conference begins
- CEO Jensen Huang’s Tuesday keynote is anticipated to reveal details about future AI chips beyond the current Blackwell generation
- Nvidia faces increasing competition in the AI inference market as companies seek lower-cost, power-efficient alternatives
- The company is expected to reveal details of its “Vera Rubin” chip system even as its predecessor Blackwell chips face production delays
- Nvidia is also likely to discuss plans for quantum computing and personal computer central processor chips
Nvidia shares climbed 0.8% in premarket trading on Monday, reaching $122.60. This gain follows Friday’s impressive 5.3% increase, creating a stark contrast to the broader market’s downward trend.
Futures tracking the S&P 500 index were down 0.6% during the same period. The difference highlights Nvidia’s continued strength in a challenging market environment.
The positive performance comes as Nvidia kicks off its annual GPU Technology Conference (GTC) today. The developer event is expected to generate a wave of news about the company’s AI technology roadmap.
Investors are particularly eager for CEO Jensen Huang’s keynote speech scheduled for Tuesday. The presentation will likely feature announcements about future versions of Nvidia’s artificial intelligence chips.
Nvidia has previously stated its plans to launch the B300 Blackwell chip this year. The company has also announced the next-generation Rubin chip platform for 2026.
Market watchers will be focusing on two key factors during the event. First, how much performance improvement the new hardware delivers. Second, how quickly Nvidia can ramp up production.
These questions have gained importance after mass shipments of Blackwell systems faced delays due to technological challenges. The delays have impacted Nvidia’s profit margins.
Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst at TF International Securities, noted specific information that could benefit investors.
“If Nvidia could highlight real-world data center deployments of GB200 NVL72 [server systems], underscore the upgrade advantages from B200 to B300, and clarify the B300 production timeline, it could sharpen market expectations for the B300 investment thesis,” he wrote.
The conference comes at a challenging time for Nvidia. China’s DeepSeek recently revealed a competitive chatbot that allegedly requires less computing power than rivals to create.
This news briefly impacted Nvidia’s stock. The company’s success has been built on selling high-powered chips that cost tens of thousands of dollars each.
These chips have helped Nvidia’s revenue more than quadruple over the past three years to $130.5 billion. The company currently holds over 90% market share in the AI training segment.
Growing competition in the market
However, Nvidia faces growing competition in the AI inference market. Inference is when AI models use their training to produce answers for users, as opposed to the initial training process.
Numerous startups and traditional rivals like Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) are developing chips that may handle inference tasks more efficiently. These competitors are targeting lower costs and reduced power consumption.
“They have a hammer, and they’re just making bigger hammers,” said Bob Beachler, vice president at Untether AI, one of at least 60 startups challenging Nvidia in inference markets.
Despite these challenges, Nvidia argues that new “reasoning” AI systems work in its favor. These systems require more computing power, playing to Nvidia’s strengths.
Beyond AI chips, Nvidia is expected to discuss other initiatives at GTC. These include quantum computing plans and personal computer processor development, an effort first reported by Reuters and confirmed by Nvidia in January.
The conference will conclude with a full day dedicated to quantum computing. This follows January comments by Huang suggesting the technology was decades away from practical use.
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