NVIDIA Leads Tech Gains, Meta Stock Drops Despite 20-Year Power Deal

On Tuesday, the stocks of the seven major technology companies in the U.S. experienced mixed performance, with NVIDIA leading the gains while Alphabet lagged behind. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, announced a 20-year contract to purchase 1,121 megawatts of electricity from the Clinton Power Station starting from the middle of 2027. Despite this announcement, Meta's stock price fell by 0.5%.

Among the seven tech giants, NVIDIA saw the most significant increase, rising by 2.6%, followed by Tesla with a 1% gain, Amazon with a 0.6% increase, and Apple with a 0.3% rise. Microsoft's stock remained relatively unchanged, while Alphabet experienced the largest decline, dropping by more than 1%.

NVIDIA's recent performance is notable given the challenges it faces due to U.S. restrictions on AI chip sales to China. The company is reportedly developing a new, lower-specification AI chip, codenamed B30, designed to comply with U.S. export regulations. This chip is expected to attract interest from major Chinese cloud service providers such as ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent. Industry analysts predict that NVIDIA will partner with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to produce the B30 chip, which could potentially boost TSMC's order book and benefit other Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturers that have strong ties with Chinese cloud service providers.

NVIDIA's CEO, Jensen Huang, has repeatedly emphasized the importance of the Chinese market, stating that it is one of the largest AI markets globally and a crucial platform for achieving global success. Huang has expressed concern that U.S. restrictions could sever NVIDIA's relationship with China's vast AI developer community and that China's semiconductor industry is rapidly catching up to the U.S. In response, NVIDIA has been adjusting its chip designs to comply with U.S. export regulations while maintaining competitiveness in the Chinese market.

The new B30 chip, based on the latest Blackwell architecture, will not utilize high-bandwidth memory (HBM) or TSMC's advanced packaging technologies. It is expected to be priced between 6,500 and 8,000 dollars, significantly lower than the 10,000 to 12,000 dollars for the H20 chip. The B30 chip is designed to allow multiple chips to be connected and operated as a single system, which has already garnered interest from major Chinese cloud service providers. If adopted by these providers, the B30 chip could expand the market for AI server outsourcing and benefit Taiwanese manufacturers that have established relationships with Chinese cloud service providers.