Nvidia Shares Post Largest Weekly Gain in 15 Months Boosted by Musk's Praise

Nvidia shares recorded their largest weekly gain in 15 months, driven by high praise from Elon Musk and other factors.

According to U.S. economic media outlet MarketWatch on the 9th (local time), Nvidia shares rose 2.3% to close at $223.96 on the 7th, marking an 11.6% increase for the week, backed by strong endorsements for artificial intelligence (AI) chips and robust capital expenditure plans from big tech companies.

Based on Dow Jones Market Data, this is the largest weekly gain since the week of May 16 of last year (16.1%).

Last week, its market capitalization also increased by $562 billion (approximately 791 trillion won), marking the largest weekly increase ever recorded.

As a result, Nvidia reclaimed the top spot in global market capitalization from Apple after just four days—having temporarily lost it late last month—and stood at $5.42 trillion (approximately 7,630 trillion won) as of the 7th, leading Apple ($4.57 trillion) by a margin of $850 billion (approximately 1,200 trillion won).

Nvidia's share price was driven up after Musk called Nvidia's next-generation Vera Rubin chip architecture the "best AI computer" during SpaceX's first earnings conference call on the 4th, stating that he decided to build infrastructure using Nvidia products exclusively moving forward.

SpaceX's earnings announcement came after Google, Amazon, and Meta Platforms had already raised their capital expenditure forecasts for this year, bolstering Nvidia's stock price.

Beyond Musk's glowing praise, "the bigger story is how much money hyperscalers are spending right now on AI infrastructure," pointed out Kate Leaman, chief analyst at AvaTrade, noting that Nvidia remains the top graphics processing unit (GPU) supplier.

Willie Lee, a partner at investment firm Neostella, said that while Google's first-quarter negative free cash flow (FCF) made investors anxious, Microsoft's prudent spending stance and accelerated cloud growth supported a positive outlook on spending overall.

Ahead of Nvidia's earnings announcement scheduled for later this month, "some traders are definitely positioning themselves ahead of it," Leaman said.

However, she added that with expectations already high, the possibility of a correction exists.

Musk previously stated that SpaceX, "based on our agreement with Nvidia, will receive a fairly significant portion of GPUs next year," expecting to build about 10 gigawatts (GW) of computing capacity by next year.

BNP Paribas analyst Stefan Slowinski diagnosed that such remarks raise questions about whether GPU supply could re-emerge as a key constraint in building AI infrastructure over the next 12 to 18 months.

He noted that computing service companies without strong strategic relationships with Nvidia could fall behind, while those able to secure allocations or expand their own custom silicon projects would see "disproportionately large benefits," naming CoreWeave, Nebius, and Oracle as leading beneficiaries.

Citing SpaceX's analysis that memory production grows by 20% annually while AI demand surges by 200%, Slowinski said, "AI computing shortages are unlikely to ease even through 2027," and added, "The current favorable pricing environment is unlikely to normalize anytime soon."

(Photo: Getty Images)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.