NEW YORK, Feb 5, 2026, 06:25 EST — Premarket
- Nvidia’s proposed sale of its H200 chip to ByteDance remains stalled over U.S. license terms, Reuters reported.
- AMD took a sharp hit on its outlook, but Super Micro surged after boosting its full-year revenue forecast.
- Alphabet signaled a big jump in capital expenditure for 2026, raising questions about the cost and potential return on its AI investments.
Nvidia drew attention before Thursday’s U.S. open as Reuters revealed its planned sale of H200 AI chips to China’s ByteDance is still caught up in U.S. licensing rules.
Timing is crucial. Investors are dividing the “AI trade” into clear winners and laggards, showing less tolerance for companies that can’t convert demand into profits and cash quickly—especially as policy risks resurface. Reuters
Export restrictions and the steep cost of expanding data centers are coming head-to-head. Alphabet now projects capital spending — covering servers, data centers, and similar investments — to hit between $175 billion and $185 billion in 2026. That’s well above analyst estimates, even as company leaders flagged ongoing capacity constraints.
AMD plunged 17.3% to $200.19 in the latest session, with Nvidia dropping 3.3% to $174.19. Super Micro Computer surged 13.8% to $33.76, but Palantir took a hit, sliding 11.6% to $139.54. Alphabet closed at $333.04, down 1.9%. The Nasdaq shed 1.51% on Wednesday, and the S&P 500 slipped 0.51%.
Reuters reports that the Trump administration is open to letting ByteDance purchase Nvidia’s H200 chips. However, Nvidia hasn’t signed off on the proposed terms, which include “Know-Your-Customer” checks — a compliance step aimed at verifying end users and preventing misuse. A Nvidia spokesperson stressed that “the conditions need to be commercially practical,” cautioning that otherwise, demand might shift to non-U.S. competitors. Reuters
AMD’s shares slid after an outlook that, while solid, fell short of the sky-high expectations baked into its AI-driven valuation. The company predicted quarterly revenue near $9.8 billion, with a $300 million margin either way. CEO Lisa Su described China sales as “dynamic” this quarter. Bob O’Donnell, president of TECHnalysis Research, noted, “The expectations for large blowout quarters… have skewed what the market is looking for.” Reuters
Super Micro bucked the trend with a rally after raising its fiscal 2026 revenue forecast to at least $40 billion. CFO David Weigand highlighted “Order strength remains strong” among major data-center and enterprise clients. Still, the company’s latest report showed quarterly net sales at $12.7 billion and a gross margin slipping to 6.3%, down from the previous quarter. Reuters
Alphabet shook the market again late Wednesday. CEO Sundar Pichai told analysts, “We are seeing our AI investments and infrastructure drive revenue and growth across the board,” following a 48% jump in Google Cloud revenue to $17.7 billion. The stock swung in after-hours trading as investors balanced higher spending against the growth. Reuters
Software stocks took a hit too. According to Reuters, these shares lost roughly $830 billion in market value across six trading sessions following Anthropic’s debut of a tool that integrates large language models more deeply into everyday tasks. Ocean Park Asset Management CIO James St. Aubin described it as “an awakening to the disruptive power of AI.” Reuters
The downside is clear. If U.S.-China license negotiations tighten more, or Big Tech pulls back on capex following sticker shock, AI chip and server suppliers might face margin pressure or shifting orders, even if demand holds steady.
Traders are zeroing in on what’s coming up fast: Amazon will release earnings after Thursday’s close, and the U.S. Labor Department pushed the January jobs report to Wednesday, Feb. 11, after the brief shutdown. Both events have the potential to shake up risk sentiment in the sector.
