Nvidia (NVDA) shares have awakened from a quiet period by recording a seventh consecutive session of gains. Data from Dow Jones Market Data shows the stock accumulated an 11.4% increase during this timeframe, marking its longest winning streak since November 2023. The stock rose 1% in Thursday trading, a strong performance that coincides with the S&P 500 index advancing for seven consecutive days. The key question for the market is whether Nvidia can detach from broader market trends and sustain its upward trajectory given that major recent catalysts like strong earnings and the highly discussed GTC conference failed to reignite momentum.
Jeffrey Favuzza, an analyst at the Jefferies trading desk, pointed out that Nvidia shares remained approximately 14% below their 52-week high as of premarket trading on Thursday. This positioning makes it one of the more significant laggards among the key artificial intelligence stocks he monitors, a group that includes Astera Labs (ALAB), Broadcom (AVGO), and Micron Technology (MU). He noted that if capital continues flowing back into the artificial intelligence theme, these specific stocks might offer the greatest upside elasticity. This suggests investors might increase their bullish bets on the sector through leverage.
Nvidia shares remain down by about 1% so far in 2026. The inability of Nvidia and Broadcom to sustain their prior momentum has not dragged down the overall semiconductor industry.
The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) closed 1.75% higher on Thursday. DataTrek co-founder Nicholas Colas explained that the fund has high exposure to its top ten holdings, which prominently feature Nvidia and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM). Most constituent stocks still boast double-digit gains this year. Colas noted that overall industry returns remain quite robust even against the backdrop of geopolitical conflicts involving the US and Iran. The ETF has surged 19% this year, maintaining its strength without relying entirely on Nvidia. He added that despite high valuations, investors focused on this theme must maintain strong confidence in Nvidia, TSMC, and other leading stocks.
Nvidia is actively collaborating with ecosystem partners on initiatives extending beyond basic chip manufacturing to maintain its leadership in artificial intelligence infrastructure. Silicon photonics has become highly sought after for data center construction due to its energy efficiency and ultra-high bandwidth. This technology relies on light instead of electricity to transmit data between chips.
The company announced a partnership with chipmaker Marvell (MRVL) in March to integrate its technology into AI data centers and artificial intelligence radio access networks through the NVLink Fusion rack-level platform. This platform allows developers to integrate custom chips with Nvidia NVLink scaling technology so multiple chips can operate as a single system. Nvidia also invested 2 billion dollars in the custom chip company with the stated goal of collaborating on networking solutions, including optical interconnects and silicon photonics.
Nvidia had already secured partnerships with Coherent (COHR) and Lumentum (LITE) earlier that month to develop advanced laser systems and optical communication networks. The company indicated these collaborations will grant it priority access to future products and manufacturing capacity. CoreWeave (CRWV) also announced an expanded data center computing agreement with Meta (META) on Thursday that includes access to the Nvidia Vera Rubin product line.