Nvidia Corp NVDA and peer semiconductor stocks, including Advanced Micro Devices, Inc AMD, are trading lower Monday following strength in the first half of 2024, driven by AI momentum.
Nvidia faces upcoming charges from French antitrust regulators. The charges allege anti-competitive practices, marking the first instance of such enforcement against Nvidia, Reuters reported.
French authorities initiated dawn raids in the graphics cards sector last September, explicitly targeting Nvidia. These raids culminated in a statement of objections and a formal charge sheet against the company.
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Since the release of the generative AI application ChatGPT late last year, Nvidia’s chip demand has surged, prompting increased regulatory scrutiny on both sides of the Atlantic. The company’s dominant position in the AI and computer graphics chip market has drawn attention from antitrust authorities.
Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore maintained Nvidia with an Overweight and raised the price target from $116 to $144.
Moore had positive data points from both his Taiwan and China trips that kept him confident in the near term.
Moore highlighted the catalyst path remained strong as the surge in H20 builds and demand removed any concern about a pre-Blackwell platform pause.
The data points he discussed in his two Asia notes and his U.S. checks remained robust. However, it was clear the market was at the tail end of the Hopper cycle, and the frothiness and visibility were lower than it was — and given the enthusiasm that Moore was hearing for the Blackwell platform, lower than it would be.
Still, he noted demand side indications remained robust for Hopper. Hopper builds continued to go up as H100 transitions to H200, and Moore was confident sales of both products would remain strong.
Moore’s numbers for the next couple of quarters have not changed, but as the Blackwell platform visibility grows, he was increasing his data center estimates for calendar year 2025 to about 35% growth.
NVDA, AMD Price Actions: Nvidia shares traded lower by 0.44% to $123.07 at the last check Monday. AMD is down 3.78% at $156.18.
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