New York, February 3, 2026, 09:35 EST — Regular session
- Nvidia shares dropped roughly 3% in early trading, going against the broader chip sector’s gains.
- Sources revealed that OpenAI has been exploring alternatives for certain AI “inference” tasks, a critical area tied to Nvidia’s growth prospects.
- Traders are eyeing chip-sector earnings this week, along with Nvidia’s results due Feb. 25, for clearer signals on demand and customer spending.
Nvidia shares dropped 2.9% to $185.61 Tuesday morning after reports surfaced that OpenAI is unhappy with some of Nvidia’s newest AI chips and is exploring other options. OpenAI has reportedly looked into chips from Advanced Micro Devices and startups like Cerebras Systems and Groq. The focus is shifting toward “inference”—the real-time output of trained AI models. Nvidia claims its platform leads on inference, offering “the best performance and total cost of ownership at scale.” Meanwhile, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman praised Nvidia’s chips as the “best AI chips in the world” and said OpenAI aims to stay a “gigantic customer.” (Reuters)
This matters because OpenAI stands out as a key buyer in the AI supply chain. Even a small sign that it’s cutting back spending can rattle stocks that have been priced for continuous, strong demand. The new fight is over inference: the focus has shifted away from training massive models to handling speed and cost when millions of users access the system simultaneously.
Investors are still sorting headline risk from revenue risk. Changing advanced computing hardware isn’t quick or cheap. Yet, the market now views customer concentration and product shifts in megacap tech as prime triggers for short-term trading moves.
Mizuho analyst Daniel O’Regan said the report “hurts sentiment” around OpenAI, a key Nvidia customer, though it hasn’t yet shifted the overall demand outlook. (Investing)
The surge was clearly company-driven. Advanced Micro Devices shares climbed roughly 4%, the iShares Semiconductor ETF added around 1.9%, and the Invesco QQQ ETF nudged up about 0.7%.
Traders are gearing up for chip-sector earnings, keeping an eye on any updates about AI infrastructure spending. AMD’s report, set for release after Tuesday’s close, will be a key focus. (Investopedia)
That said, bears face a clear downside risk: this might be more about optimization than a breakup. OpenAI has made it clear it still depends heavily on Nvidia. Plus, kicking Nvidia out of large-scale deployments won’t be easy, thanks to software tools, existing supply deals, and finely tuned performance.
Nvidia’s next major event is its quarterly earnings report. The company will webcast its fourth-quarter and full-year fiscal 2026 results on February 25 at 2:00 p.m. PT (5:00 p.m. ET). (Nvidia)
