Nvidia stock continues to slip, but some bullish signs emerge

Nvidia shares were volatile on Monday, even as reports suggested continued spending from artificial intelligence-focused customers.

The stock was down 0.5% to $166.09 in early trading. The AI darling is down around 10% for the year.

The moves come amid fresh announcements from key players investing heavily in AI infrastructure, reinforcing demand for Nvidia’s chips even as broader market sentiment remains fragile.

Mistral AI funding points to strong demand

Mistral AI said it had raised $830 million in its first debt-financing round from a consortium of banks.

The company plans to use the funds to build a new data centre near Paris equipped with 13,800 Nvidia GB300 graphics-processing units.

While financial terms of the chip purchases were not disclosed, estimates provide a sense of scale.

HSBC said a GB300 NVL72 rack containing 72 GPUs costs about $3 million.

Based on that benchmark, Mistral’s planned deployment could translate into roughly $575 million worth of Nvidia hardware.

The development adds to a broader trend of rising AI infrastructure spending.

Research firm Omdia said global spending on cloud infrastructure services reached $110.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025, marking a 29% increase from a year earlier.

The firm expects spending to grow by another 27% this year.

Starcloud expands AI ambitions

Spending is not limited to Earth. Starcloud said it had raised $170 million at a $1.1 billion valuation to advance its plans for space-based data centres.

The company previously launched a satellite carrying one of Nvidia’s H100 GPUs into orbit.

It now plans a second launch later this year, which will include a GPU cluster and a large deployable radiator designed to generate significantly more power than its first satellite.

These developments highlight the expanding scope of AI infrastructure, with Nvidia positioned at the center of both terrestrial and experimental deployments.

Valuation pressures persist amid market selloff

Despite these demand signals, Nvidia’s stock has come under pressure in recent months.

Shares have fallen nearly 20% from their record high in October, reflecting a broader selloff across global markets.

The decline has been driven in part by concerns over the geopolitical situation in the Middle East, particularly the US and Israeli conflict with Iran.

Investors fear elevated oil prices could fuel inflation and prompt central banks to raise interest rates.

As a result, Nvidia is now trading at one of its lowest valuation levels in years.

The stock is valued at about 19.6 times its expected earnings over the next 12 months, its lowest multiple since early 2019.

Investors use price-to-earnings (P/E) multiples to assess a stock’s valuation relative to its expected future earnings.

With the rise of online trading platforms, tracking metrics such as the P/E ratio has become significantly easier and more accessible to market participants.

Its valuation has also slipped below that of the S&P 500, which trades at around 20 times earnings despite lower expected growth.

According to LSEG data, Nvidia’s earnings are projected to grow more than 70% in its current fiscal year, compared with an estimated 19% growth for the broader index in 2026.

Investor concerns around AI returns

Investors have also questioned whether heavy spending on AI infrastructure by major technology companies will translate into near-term returns.

Companies such as Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon are among Nvidia’s largest customers.

Concerns that these investments may take longer to generate revenue and profits have weighed on sentiment.

Combined with broader market pressures, these worries have erased more than $800 billion from Nvidia’s market value, which now stands at about $4 trillion.

At the same time, Nvidia has continued to report improving financial performance, including gross margins reaching 75%.

Analysts have also raised their earnings estimates, even as the stock price has declined.

The pullback has sparked debate about the durability of the AI-driven rally.