New York, March 2, 2026, 10:07 (ET) — Regular session
- Nvidia shares climbed roughly 1.5% early in the session, outpacing a broader market that was in the red.
- The company plans to put $2 billion into both Lumentum and Coherent, tying the investments to multiyear optics supply deals.
- Eyes now turn to Nvidia’s GTC conference later this month, with investors scanning for any new product signals.
Nvidia (NVDA) shares climbed roughly 1.5% to $179.80 as of 10:03 a.m. ET. The stock’s range for the session ran from $174.64 to $180.15.
Nvidia said it’s putting $2 billion apiece into Lumentum and Coherent, both photonics specialists, locking in purchase agreements and rights to advanced laser and optical networking gear for data centers.
The current battle in AI hardware is shifting focus — it’s not only about ramping up processor speeds, but also about pushing greater volumes of data between chips, all while keeping power use and heat down. Bottlenecks in that data flow can throttle “inference,” the step where an AI model spits out real-time answers.
Nvidia struck a multiyear, nonexclusive deal with Lumentum, securing a multibillion-dollar purchase commitment along with future access to advanced laser component capacity. “AI has reinvented computing and is driving the largest computing infrastructure buildout in history,” CEO Jensen Huang said. NVIDIA Newsroom
Coherent has also locked in a multiyear deal with Nvidia, which comes with a multibillion-dollar purchase commitment and guarantees on capacity for advanced laser and optical networking gear—not to mention a $2 billion investment from Nvidia. CEO Jim Anderson said the arrangement will expand Nvidia’s reach to “include multiple product families” that target future AI data center builds. NVIDIA Newsroom
Nvidia shares advanced as investors weighed a sharp spike in energy prices, after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran triggered retaliation from Tehran that snarled oil and gas flows and choked shipping through the Strait of Hormuz—reviving inflation concerns.
Around 10 a.m. ET, the Nasdaq Composite slipped roughly 0.6%. The S&P 500 lost close to 0.5%. Volatility gauges edged higher.
Chip names took a hit, with the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) slipping roughly 1.1% early in the session. Nvidia stood out as one of the few gainers in the sector.
Nvidia’s latest move: pushing deeper into networking. On Sunday, the company said it’s teaming up with global telecom and infrastructure companies to develop “AI-native” 6G platforms. “AI is redefining computing … and telecommunications is next,” CEO Huang said, according to the announcement. NVIDIA Investor Relations
Still, these optics deals won’t deliver overnight results. Building up U.S. production capacity and weaving new optical interconnects into widely shipped systems is a slow process. Plus, any single-stock headlines can easily get overshadowed if geopolitical risk sends markets fleeing from risk.
Nvidia’s GTC conference lands in San Jose from March 16 to 19, with CEO Jensen Huang on deck for a keynote address March 16.
