Ripple’s native token (XRP) traded near $1.42 on May 10, with a market cap of about $87.9 billion and over $1 billion in daily volume. 

Crypto.news data showed XRP ranked fourth by market value, with about 61.8 billion tokens in circulation.

The token has gained modestly over the past week, but traders remain divided on its next major move. Two analyst views now stand out: a deeper macro bottom near $0.93 and a short-term rebound toward $1.45.

EGRAG points to $0.93 bottom thesis

EGRAG Crypto said XRP’s weekly chart shows a “diminishing downside” pattern below the 200-week simple moving average. The analyst argued that previous cycle lows formed about 60% and 40% below the 200 SMA.

Under that model, the next major low could form around 20% below the 200 SMA, placing the possible bottom near $0.93. “This is not prediction. This is probabilistic structural analysis” is the key quote to treat with caution because the target depends on the 200 SMA, trendline strength, and wider market conditions.

Ali Charts sees short-term buy signal

Ali Martinez offered a shorter-term view. The analyst said XRP flashed a TD Sequential buy signal on the 4-hour chart after a recent pullback from the $1.46 area.

That signal points to possible local exhaustion after the correction. Ali said XRP could attempt a move back toward $1.45, with a secondary target near $1.80 if buyers clear overhead supply. XRP has been moving sideways, while some traders continue to watch the $1.70 breakout area.

The two views do not cover the same time frame. EGRAG’s $0.93 thesis focuses on a longer weekly structure, while Ali’s buy signal tracks a short-term rebound setup.

Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) non-fungible tokens are surging again, fueling hopes of a broader revival in the battered NFT market as speculative appetite returns across crypto.

Floor prices, or the lowest value for the flagship Yuga Labs collection, have climbed from around 5 ETH to 10 ETH over the past month, while apecoin (APE), the ecosystem’s governance token, has also rallied from below $0.10 to about $0.16 with a sharp increase in trading volumes.

The rebound comes as memecoins and other high-risk crypto assets are outperforming more defensive sectors such as decentralized finance (DeFi), suggesting retail traders are perhaps returning to the market after months of subdued activity.

For Yuga Labs’ newly appointed CEO, Michael Figge, the rally reflects more than short-term hype.

“It’s clear from the numbers that for some time, as far as blue-chip digital collectibles go, it was oversold,” Figge told CoinDesk in an interview. “You had this huge compression in price, but if you actually look at an overlay graph, unique holders were actually up.”

Figge, who has held various executive roles at Yuga Labs since 2022, before taking over as CEO last month, argued that NFT prices had become disconnected from user participation during the prolonged downturn.

“A cynic will say prices doubled and the unique holder count didn’t double,” he said. “But that’s really just recovery from a period where things fell disproportionately.”

Survival beyond hype

The rebound also comes alongside a broader reassessment of digital art and onchain ownership beyond short-term price speculation. In an essay last week, pseudonymous collector and NFT market analyst “Van” argued that while the speculative mania surrounding NFTs largely collapsed after 2021, institutional adoption of blockchain-based art has continued quietly in the background. “The speculation died, but the medium survived,” the essay said, pointing to acquisitions and exhibitions from institutions including MoMA, Centre Pompidou and LACMA over the past four years.

The move higher has coincided with renewed momentum in speculative corners of the crypto market. CoinDesk’s MemeCoin Select Index was among the best-performing digital asset sectors last week, outperforming DeFi tokens as traders rotated back into higher-beta bets.

Some market participants also point to growing stress in DeFi as another possible driver behind renewed NFT demand. A string of recent exploits and declining yields across lending protocols have dented confidence in the sector.

“With one well-planned hack, you can lose it all,” Figge said. “That has to get solved in DeFi, but it’s definitely made people rethink the idea that it’s the only use case. NFTs offer something different — they’re tied to communities that persist beyond just price action.”

Signs of renewed activity are also emerging in NFT financial markets. Earlier last week, a $2.8 million NFT-backed loan tied to a CryptoPunk circulated widely on social media, with the lender set to earn roughly $138,000 in interest over 90 days in what traders described as one of the largest NFT-backed loans to date.

The broader NFT rebound has extended beyond BAYC. Pudgy Penguins, another major collection, has also rallied strongly in recent weeks, while traders speculate that OpenSea — the marketplace synonymous with the 2021 NFT boom — could reignite activity through a long-rumored token launch.

‘Back to basics’

Even so, Figge acknowledged that speculation remains central to the market.

“It would be naive to say financial speculation isn’t a huge driver,” he said. “Whatever happens in this cycle will rhyme with the last one, but it’s never going to be exactly the same.”

Yuga Labs has meanwhile shifted its focus back toward community-building efforts, including more than 30 in-person meetups worldwide over the past month.

“A lot of what made Bored Ape work in the first place — the social layer — hasn’t really been serviced in recent years,” Figge said. “We’ve gone back to basics.”

Bitcoin (BTC) traded near $80,874 on May 10, with an intraday high of $81,026 and a low of $80,237. The move kept BTC close to the $81,000 area after a steady weekly recovery.

Michaël van de Poppe said Bitcoin’s setup remains simple. In his view, BTC can keep moving higher as long as price stays above the 21-period moving average.

Van de Poppe pointed to $79,000 as the main short-term support. He added that $76,000 could still protect the broader structure if Bitcoin loses the first level.

“As long as the 21-MA remains beneath price” remains the key condition in his outlook. The view depends on Bitcoin holding its trend and avoiding a deeper move below support.

Bitcoin profit-taking signal improves

CryptoQuant analyst Carmelo Alemán said Bitcoin’s adjusted SOPR has stayed above 1 for nine straight days since May 1. The metric tracks whether spent BTC moved at a profit or loss.

A reading above 1 shows that sellers are realizing profits. Alemán said the longer streak makes the signal less noisy and shows the market has absorbed profit-taking so far.

Altcoin strength brings correction warning

Van de Poppe also warned that more altcoins are showing strength. He said that phase may continue for several weeks but could mark the later stage of this upward run.

He warned that some altcoins could face 30% to 50% corrections around June or July. For Bitcoin, he still sees $86,000 to $88,000 as the next major resistance zone, followed by $93,000 to $95,000 near the 50-week moving average.

South Korea’s crypto market faced a pronounced slowdown over the past year, with a steep decline in investor holdings and a sharp drop in daily liquidity on the nation’s leading exchanges. New data summarized from the Bank of Korea and reported by local media shows that the total value of crypto assets held by Korean investors fell by more than half—from 121.8 trillion won at the end of January 2025 to 60.6 trillion won by the end of February 2026. Trading activity across the five largest exchanges also contracted dramatically, as daily volumes slid to about $3 billion in February, down from roughly $11.6 billion in December 2024. At the same time, the amount of won deposited on exchanges—a proxy for dry powder—dropped from 10.7 trillion won at the end of 2024 to 7.8 trillion won. The pace of decline has been linked to falling crypto prices and capital that shifted into the stock market, according to the report cited by The Chosun Daily, which referenced Bank of Korea data submitted to Rep. Cha Gyu-geun of the Rebuilding Korea Party.

Amid the broad market pullback, stablecoins stood out as a relative outlier. Korean investors increased their stablecoin holdings earlier in the period, with stablecoin exposure rising from about $60 million in July 2024 to a peak near $597 million in December, before easing to around $41 million by February 2026. The trajectory suggests a flight to liquidity that outpaced the broader crypto downturn, a pattern seen in several markets where issuers and users lean on stablecoins to manage volatility and on-ramp liquidity to exchanges during tougher conditions.

Key takeaways

• Investor exposure to crypto in South Korea more than halved over the year, dropping from 121.8 trillion won at end-January 2025 to 60.6 trillion won by end-February 2026.
• Trading liquidity on the five largest exchanges—Upbit, Bithumb, Korbit, Coinone and Gopax—collapsed to about $3 billion in February 2026, down from $11.6 billion in December 2024.
• On-exchange won deposits shrank from 10.7 trillion won to 7.8 trillion won, signaling thinner dry powder among investors amid price pressures and asset reallocation to equities.
• Stablecoins showed resilience, rising to a peak around $597 million in December 2024 before retreating to roughly $41 million by February 2026.
• Regulators plan to tighten AML rules in August to flag crypto transactions above 10 million won involving overseas exchanges or private wallets as suspicious, a move opposed by the local industry.

Market dynamics under tighter regulation

Policy developments are shaping the near-term trajectory of Korea’s crypto market. Regulators have set a course for more stringent anti-money laundering (AML) scrutiny, with August slated as the effective date for the revised regime. Under the proposed framework, crypto transactions exceeding 10 million won that involve overseas venues or private wallets would automatically trigger flags for further review. The tightening aims to curb illicit flows but has sparked concern within the domestic ecosystem about potential operational bottlenecks and the risk of pushing users toward offshore exchanges.

Industry group Digital Asset Exchange Association (DAXA) has publicly questioned the approach, arguing that the proposed rule is disproportionate and could drive activity to offshore platforms like Binance. DAXA warned that the plan could elevate the number of suspicious transaction reports from South Korea’s five largest exchanges by as much as 85-fold—rising from roughly 63,000 cases in the previous year to more than 5.4 million—creating practical compliance challenges for firms. The debate underscores a broader tension between ambitious regulatory oversight and the desire to maintain a functional, domestic market for digital assets. For background, Cointelegraph has covered the pushback from industry groups on the 10 million won reporting rule.

Beyond AML, South Korea is also navigating the political calculus around crypto taxation. The government has confirmed that a 22% tax on crypto gains will take effect on January 1, 2027, as scheduled. The tax plan remains a divisive topic in policy circles, with supporters citing revenue opportunities and critics warning it could dampen participation and innovation in the sector. The Finance Ministry’s confirmation adds a sense of inevitability to the tax policy, even as market participants weigh how the regime will be implemented and enforced across exchanges and wallets.

Infrastructure moves ahead of a new framework

In a separate but related strand, the government’s broader effort to modernize market infrastructure for tokenized assets appears to be moving forward. Samsung SDS has secured a contract to build and operate a blockchain-based securities platform for South Korea’s Korea Securities Depository (KSD). The project is designed to support tokenized securities on a national scale and is slated for completion by February 2027, aligning with the wider legal and regulatory shifts anticipated in early 2027. The development signals a push to establish robust, on-chain settlement and custody capabilities as the market transitions toward tokenized assets within a regulated framework. This milestone sits within a broader push to upgrade financial market infrastructure before new rules come fully into force.

Naturally, these regulatory and infrastructural moves intersect with the risk and reward calculus facing investors, traders and builders in Korea. They could incentivize greater compliance and transparency in the near term, while also presenting compliance burdens that may influence where and how trading occurs. Market participants will be watching closely how AML enforcement evolves in August, how the 22% tax is operationalized, and how the Samsung-led platform influences custody and settlement workflows for tokenized assets.

For ongoing context, readers can find related coverage noting Korea’s regulatory and market developments, including coverage of recent crypto-asset enforcement actions and tax policy discussions. The evolving landscape is also reflected in industry data on exchange volumes and holdings, as cited by local outlets aggregating central-bank and regulatory data. CoinGecko’s data on exchange rankings across Korea has historically illustrated how liquidity concentrates among a handful of platforms, a dynamic that could shift as regulation and routing rules change.

As the summer progresses, market observers will look for signs of how domestic users respond to the tightening AML regime, whether capital migrates to compliant, domestic venues or spills into offshore platforms, and how institutional-grade on-chain infrastructure evolves to support a tokenized asset regime. The coming months will also reveal how the tax policy is implemented in practice and what that implies for retail and institutional participation in South Korea’s crypto markets.

What remains uncertain is the pace at which regulators will balance enforcement with market vitality, and how quickly industry participants can adapt to a more transparent, compliant environment while maintaining access to liquidity and innovative financial products. Investors and builders alike should monitor August’s AML updates, the 2027 tax regime’s rollout, and the Samsung-led platform’s implementation milestones as key markers for the next phase of Korea’s crypto story.

References and related coverage include reporting on regulatory pushes and industry responses, such as the 10 million won reporting rule discussion and the 22% crypto gains tax plan, as well as ongoing updates on Samsung SDS’s blockchain securities initiative and Korea’s broader tokenized-asset agenda.

TLDR

• Major indices reached all-time highs last week, propelled by technology and artificial intelligence momentum
• Tuesday’s April inflation report and Thursday’s retail spending figures will shape Federal Reserve rate outlook
• Cisco’s Wednesday earnings call will reveal whether margin challenges persist amid AI networking opportunities
• Applied Materials results offer critical insight into semiconductor equipment demand sustainability
• Tuesday earnings from On Holding and Under Armour provide a pulse check on premium consumer apparel trends

Investors face a pivotal week as five strategically important companies report quarterly results while critical economic indicators hit the calendar. These events collectively address the market’s most pressing questions about consumer resilience and artificial intelligence infrastructure growth.

Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite notched record closes heading into this week. Technology shares provided substantial momentum, buoyed by artificial intelligence enthusiasm, robust semiconductor performance, and declining energy costs. However, upcoming economic releases and corporate earnings could substantially alter market sentiment.

The April Consumer Price Index arrives Tuesday morning. Three days later, April retail spending figures will be published. These reports carry significant weight in shaping investor perspectives on monetary policy direction and household financial health.

Let’s examine what makes each company worth monitoring closely.

Walmart

Walmart stands as perhaps the week’s most significant bellwether for understanding American consumer behavior.

Walmart Inc., WMT

Thursday’s retail spending report will reveal whether consumer purchases maintained momentum through April. Households proved surprisingly resilient when gasoline prices climbed toward $4.50 during March, though emerging signals suggest growing caution. Consumer expenditure growth has decelerated, with some households front-loading purchases of vehicles and major appliances to avoid anticipated price hikes.

Walmart’s customer base spans income levels but provides particularly valuable insight into lower- and middle-income household spending patterns. Robust retail figures would reinforce positive sentiment around the retailer. Disappointing data would intensify worries about how inflation continues pressuring these consumer segments.

Cisco Systems

Cisco unveils fiscal third-quarter performance Wednesday after market close.

Cisco Systems, Inc., CSCO

Analysts will scrutinize top-line expansion, profitability metrics, and sales momentum in AI-focused networking products. During the previous quarter, Cisco exceeded expectations for both revenue and earnings, yet shares declined as margin compression emerged. This makes profitability the critical metric warranting closest attention in the upcoming release.

Artificial intelligence presents another important dimension. Corporate expenditure on data center capabilities and network architecture continues accelerating. Cisco needs to demonstrate it’s successfully capturing meaningful share of this spending wave, similar to gains posted by semiconductor manufacturers.

Applied Materials

Applied Materials operates outside the spotlight compared to Nvidia or AMD, yet serves an essential function within the chip ecosystem. The company’s equipment enables manufacturers to produce cutting-edge semiconductors.

Earnings are scheduled for release this week. Market participants will parse results to assess whether chipmaking equipment demand remains healthy. Semiconductor equities have delivered impressive returns driven by artificial intelligence applications, memory chip requirements, and data center infrastructure buildout.

Solid performance would validate this narrative. Disappointing forward guidance might trigger concerns that stock appreciation has outpaced actual business fundamentals.

On Holding

On Holding releases first-quarter financial results before Tuesday’s opening bell.

The Switzerland-based athletic footwear and apparel company has delivered rapid expansion, with investors focused on revenue trajectory, profit margins, and inventory management. The company’s recent appointment of its co-founders as co-chief executives adds another layer of interest to the earnings discussion and any strategic commentary provided.

On Holding offers perspective on premium athletic merchandise demand. Strong performance would indicate affluent consumers continue spending readily on branded products.

Under Armour

Under Armour publishes fiscal fourth-quarter numbers Tuesday morning.

The athletic apparel maker has pursued an operational restructuring emphasizing expense reduction and brand revitalization. Investors seek evidence these initiatives are translating into improved financial performance. Recent weakness in clothing retail categories elevates importance of this report as an apparel sector health indicator.

Revenue patterns, profitability, and inventory positions will draw primary attention.

Final Thoughts

This week transcends individual company performance—it represents a comprehensive examination of dominant market themes.

Inflation metrics will determine whether price pressures continue moderating. Retail figures will clarify actual consumer financial conditions. Cisco and Applied Materials will provide ground-level perspective on artificial intelligence and semiconductor demand sustainability. On Holding and Under Armour will indicate whether premium apparel purchases remain strong.

Each data point and earnings report contributes to the fundamental question facing investors: can markets sustain record valuations as new information arrives?

Key Takeaways

• The Defense Department disclosed thousands of pages documenting UAP encounters following President Trump’s mandate
• Military records detail objects executing sharp 90-degree maneuvers at high speeds and disabling aircraft weapons systems
• Advanced capabilities outlined in reports align with technologies developed by defense contractors specializing in stealth and electronic warfare
• Major defense firms including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and RTX are linked to classified programs exploring similar technologies
• The iShares Aerospace & Defense ETF has declined 8% amid Iranian conflicts, with market watchers saying UAP disclosures won’t significantly impact defense sector valuations

The Defense Department made public 161 declassified files on Friday containing thousands of pages documenting what officials term “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena.” President Donald Trump ordered the disclosure following his earlier commitment to transparency regarding UAP records in response to significant public curiosity.

The records are accessible through the Department of Defense’s official portal, with additional batches scheduled for future disclosure. The collection encompasses multiple decades and features declassified military communications, Apollo lunar mission documentation, and testimony from civilian observers.

A 2023 incident report documents an unidentified craft executing several sharp 90-degree directional changes while traveling at approximately 80 miles per hour. Such flight characteristics suggest breakthrough propulsion systems and advanced materials engineering—technological domains where companies like Lockheed Martin and GE Aerospace maintain active research programs.

Another documented encounter from 2022 in the East China Sea describes a football-sized object plunging into the ocean at extreme velocity without creating water displacement or velocity reduction. Such performance characteristics hold potential relevance for naval engineering firms including General Dynamics and Huntington-Ingalls Industries.

FBI documentation within the disclosure package references objects undetectable through visual observation yet clearly registering on radar systems. This capability mirrors optical camouflage technology, a specialty area for stealth-oriented defense manufacturers like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.

Military Aircraft Weapons System Rendered Inoperable

A 2023 pilot account describes complete weapons system failure occurring during proximity to a compact UAP. Such electronic disruption represents jamming and electronic warfare capabilities, sectors where defense contractors including RTX, BAE Systems, and L3Harris Technologies maintain specialized operations.

Regardless of the compelling nature of these accounts, market analysts don’t anticipate the UAP document release will boost defense sector equities. The iShares Aerospace & Defense ETF has experienced an 8% decline since Iranian hostilities commenced. Market participants remain concentrated on budget allocations and international conflicts rather than unexplained phenomena reports.

Classified Program Revenue Decreases at Lockheed

Lockheed Martin disclosed a 1% year-over-year revenue reduction in its aeronautics division during the first quarter of 2026. Company officials attributed the decrease largely to approximately $325 million in reduced classified program sales. Bank of America analysts project Lockheed’s classified program expenditures will range between $500 million and $700 million throughout the complete 2026 fiscal year.

The document disclosure arrives amid heightened public attention to UAPs that intensified following Congressional hearings in 2022—the first such proceedings in half a century. Former President Barack Obama further amplified interest during a February media appearance, stating aliens were “real,” though he subsequently explained he encountered no concrete evidence during his presidential tenure.

Trump issued directives to the Pentagon for UAP-related file disclosure shortly following Obama’s interview. The 161 documents currently published constitute the initial phase of the broader release initiative.

Numerous photographs contained within the files are characterized as unclear or display dark circular shapes. The actionable investment intelligence remains minimal at this stage.

Interested individuals can access the complete file collection directly at war.gov/UFO.

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce has drawn attention to prediction markets after discussing their growth during a May 8 speech. 

She said commercial prediction markets have “taken off” and show “no sign of slowing down.”

Her remarks did not announce a final SEC rule for prediction markets. Still, they added to debate over how event-based products, tokenized markets, and possible prediction market ETFs may fit within U.S. securities rules.

SEC signals softer crypto approach

Crypto.news recently reported that the SEC’s messaging has shifted under Chair Paul Atkins, with Peirce and Mark Uyeda calling for clearer rules and a more open stance toward innovation. Peirce said the U.S. should be a place where people want to build in crypto and other markets.

The SEC’s Crypto Task Force also says it aims to draw clearer lines for crypto assets, build tailored disclosure rules, and create realistic paths to registration. Peirce leads that task force, according to the SEC.

Prediction market ETFs add pressure

Crypto.news has also noted that Bitwise filed for exchange-traded funds tied to political prediction markets under the PredictionShares brand. That filing placed event-based market exposure closer to traditional investor products.

Such products may face close checks around disclosures, market rules, settlement, and event resolution. “Prediction market ETFs may launch soon” remains a claim to treat with caution because approval still depends on regulators and final product reviews.

A future framework may focus on clear disclosures, listing standards, manipulation controls, and dispute rules. Prediction markets also rely on trusted event settlement, which can create risks if results are unclear or challenged.

South Korean investors cut their crypto holdings by more than half over the past year as capital moved toward the stock market. 

Bank of Korea data submitted to Rep. Cha Gyu-geun showed holdings fell from 121.8 trillion won, or $83.3 billion, at the end of January 2025 to 60.6 trillion won, or $41.4 billion, by the end of February 2026.

Daily trading volume also dropped across Upbit, Bithumb, Korbit, Coinone, and Gopax. The figure fell to about $3 billion in February from $11.6 billion in December 2024, showing lower activity among retail traders.

Investors move toward stocks

The decline came as Korean investors turned toward equities during a strong stock market run. Lower crypto prices also reduced the value of assets held on local exchanges.

Won deposits at exchanges also fell. The balance dropped from 10.7 trillion won at the end of 2024 to 7.8 trillion won, pointing to weaker cash demand for crypto trading.

Moreover, stablecoins moved differently from the broader crypto market. Holdings rose from $60 million in July 2024 to $597 million in December, before falling back to $41 million in February.

As previously reported, stablecoins made up nearly half of South Korea’s crypto outflows in Q1 2025, as users moved funds to overseas exchanges. That trend shows why regulators are watching cross-border crypto flows closely.

Rules add pressure on exchanges

South Korea is also preparing tougher AML rules. Transactions above 10 million won involving overseas exchanges or private wallets could be flagged as suspicious from August.

Crypto.news also reported that Samsung SDS will build the Korea Securities Depository’s token securities platform before South Korea’s new tokenized securities framework takes effect in February 2027. That shows the country is tightening crypto oversight while building regulated blockchain market infrastructure.

TLDR:

• Nvidia has crossed $40 billion in investment commitments in 2026, targeting firms across the AI supply chain.
  
• A $30 billion bet on OpenAI stands as Nvidia’s single largest investment, deepening a decade-long partnership.
  
• Deals with Corning and IREN tie optical manufacturing and data center capacity directly to Nvidia’s hardware ecosystem.
  
• Analysts warn that neocloud investments may be pre-funding GPU purchases, raising questions about organic AI demand.

Nvidia has surpassed $40 billion in investment commitments in 2026, backing companies across the AI infrastructure stack.

The chipmaker recently agreed to invest up to $3.2 billion in glass maker Corning and $2.1 billion in data center operator IREN.

These deals reflect a broader strategy of financing the AI supply chain while securing commercial partnerships. Analysts see both promise and risk in Nvidia’s growing investment portfolio.

Nvidia Funds AI Infrastructure From Chips to Data Centers

Nvidia’s 2026 dealmaking pace has far outrun previous years. The company has signed at least seven multibillion-dollar deals with publicly traded firms this year.

Additionally, it has participated in roughly two dozen private company investment rounds, according to FactSet.

The IREN deal includes an agreement for the data center company to deploy up to 5 gigawatts of Nvidia’s DSX-branded infrastructure.

These facilities will power AI workloads at locations across the globe. The arrangement ties IREN’s expansion directly to Nvidia’s hardware ecosystem.

The Corning investment comes with a manufacturing commitment as well. Corning will build three new U.S. facilities dedicated to optical technologies for Nvidia. The chipmaker is shifting toward fiber-optic cables instead of copper as it develops rack-scale systems.

Earlier in 2026, Nvidia put $2 billion each into Marvell Technology, Lumentum, and Coherent. All three companies are developing silicon photonics and optical networking technologies.

Mizuho analyst Jordan Klein called these component deals “super smart by the CFO and team and a great use of cash,” adding that they help accelerate critical technologies currently in short supply.

OpenAI Remains Nvidia’s Largest Single Bet

Nvidia’s biggest individual investment this year was a $30 billion commitment to OpenAI. The two companies have worked together for over a decade, with ties deepening since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022. CEO Jensen Huang described the relationship as a long-standing strategic partnership.

During an April podcast appearance, Huang explained Nvidia’s approach to backing AI companies. “There are so many great, amazing foundation model companies, and we try to invest in all of them,” he said.

“We don’t pick winners. We need to support everyone.” Nvidia also joined funding rounds for Anthropic and Elon Musk’s xAI before its merger with SpaceX in February.

Wedbush Securities analyst Matthew Bryson noted that Nvidia’s investments fit “squarely into the circular investment theme” driving market durability concerns. However, he also sees the deals building a competitive moat if Nvidia executes well.

Klein, on the other hand, was more direct about neocloud investments, saying, “It smells like you are pre-funding the purchase of your own GPUs and products.”

Ben Bajarin at Creative Strategies flagged a longer-term concern regarding demand sustainability. “The risk is that if the cycle turns, the market starts questioning how much of the demand was organic versus supported by Nvidia’s own balance sheet,” he told CNBC.

Meanwhile, on Nvidia’s last earnings call, Huang stated, “Our investments are focused very squarely, strategically on expanding and deepening our ecosystem reach.” Nvidia’s non-marketable equity securities grew to $22.25 billion by January 2026, up sharply from $3.39 billion a year earlier.