New York, Jan 16, 2026, 17:08 EST — After-hours
- Nvidia fell in late trade as investors weighed fresh uncertainty over AI chip sales into China.
- Broadcom and AMD rose, keeping chip shares in focus after a strong semiconductor week.
- Next up: Tuesday’s reopen after the holiday, plus a busy earnings slate and more tariff headlines.
Nvidia shares were down about 0.5% in after-hours trading on Friday, lagging other AI-linked chip names, after Reuters reported this week that Chinese customs authorities told agents its H200 chips were not permitted to enter China. Broadcom rose about 2.6% and AMD gained 1.7% in late trade.
The moves matter because AI stocks are no longer trading just on demand. Policy now sits right on top of the story — tariffs, export rules, and where the next wave of data centers gets built.
That hits at an awkward moment. Earnings season is starting to spread beyond banks, and investors want proof that the huge AI build-out is still translating into revenue, not just bigger bills.
In the regular session, U.S. stocks ended nearly flat in a choppy trade, with the S&P 500 off 0.07% and the Nasdaq down 0.07%. Chipmakers rose, extending gains from Thursday, as investors kept risk in check into the long weekend. (Reuters)
On Nvidia’s China exposure, Reuters reported Chinese customs authorities told agents this week that Nvidia’s H200 artificial intelligence chips were “not permitted” to enter China, and officials told domestic technology companies not to purchase them unless necessary. “Basically a ban for now,” one person briefed on the matter said, though the report said it was unclear whether the directive amounts to a formal ban or a temporary measure. (Reuters)
At the same time, Washington and Taipei clinched a trade deal that cuts broad tariffs on many Taiwanese exports to 15% from 20% and offers preferential treatment for chipmakers that expand U.S. production, the U.S. Commerce Department said. Taiwanese companies will invest $250 billion to increase production of semiconductors, energy and artificial intelligence in the United States, and TechInsights vice-chair Dan Hutcheson said the deal was likely to “drive higher demand” in the chipmaking supply chain as firms build out U.S. operations. (Reuters)
A day earlier, Taiwan Semiconductor’s results and outlook helped steady the chip tape. The company predicted robust annual growth and flagged more U.S. manufacturing capacity, and U.S.-listed TSMC shares jumped 4.4% on Thursday; an index of semiconductors climbed 1.8%, and Nvidia and Broadcom also rose. “That’s been kind of squashed… with the news from Taiwan Semiconductor,” investment adviser Alan Lancz said, referring to valuation worries in tech. (Reuters)
TSMC’s U.S. footprint is also growing. The company has committed $165 billion to its U.S. expansion and said it completed the purchase of a second parcel of land in Arizona to give it more flexibility to respond to AI-related demand, Reuters reported on Friday. Apple, Nvidia, AMD and Qualcomm are customers of its Arizona fabs, and TSMC Arizona began volume production of Nvidia’s Blackwell GPUs in October, the report said. (Reuters)
The financing pipeline is part of the AI trade now too. Barclays expects U.S. corporate bond issuance to rise to $2.46 trillion in 2026, and said the “biggest upside risk” is AI hyperscaler capex — capital spending by the big cloud firms that run massive data centers. BofA analysts said the five largest hyperscalers could borrow about $140 billion annually over the next three years. (Reuters)
Analysts are still leaning into the chip theme. Jefferies analyst Blayne Curtis named Broadcom, Nvidia and Marvell as top picks for 2026 and raised his Nvidia price target to $275 from $250; he set a $500 target for Broadcom and a $120 target for Marvell, Barron’s reported. (Barron’s)
Still, the downside is easy to map. If tariffs rise again, or if export rules tighten, shipments can get stuck and demand can shift to rival suppliers. And even when demand holds up, a mix skewing toward lower-margin custom AI processors can pressure profits.
Markets are closed on Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and reopen Tuesday, when Netflix is due to report, with Intel and Johnson & Johnson also on the calendar in the coming week. “It is literally an imperative that earnings actually carry the news cycle,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B Riley Wealth, as investors watch 2026 guidance and any fresh tariff or chip-policy updates. (Reuters)
