Key Takeaways
- Wells Fargo maintains a bullish stance on NVDA before GTC 2026, highlighting historical trends showing post-conference outperformance versus the SOX index ranging from 12% to 45% over three-month periods
- Bank of America maintains its Buy recommendation with a $300 price target, observing that NVDA is trading at approximately 17x forward PE—a historically low valuation
- The chipmaker is anticipated to showcase its next-generation co-packaged optic switch along with developments regarding its Feynman GPU series and Kyber NVL576 rack systems
- Agentic AI workloads are creating unprecedented CPU demand — Nvidia’s Vera CPU has entered production and is operating in Meta’s data centers, with broader deployment scheduled for 2027
- The CPU sector faces mounting supply constraints, with AMD and Intel reporting lead times extending to six months and price increases exceeding 10%
Nvidia (NVDA) approaches its yearly GTC conference scheduled for next week with significant attention from the investment community. Taking place March 16–19 in San Jose, California, the gathering could serve as an important catalyst for the semiconductor giant’s stock price — and perhaps influence the entire chip industry.
Analysts at Wells Fargo, under the leadership of Aaron Rakers, stated they view themselves as “NVDA buyers ahead of the event.” The financial institution highlighted a historical trend of robust stock appreciation during the three-month window following previous GTC gatherings, with NVDA typically outperforming the SOX semiconductor benchmark by approximately 30% on average, spanning from +12% to +45%.
Vivek Arya, an analyst at Bank of America, has maintained his Buy rating alongside a $300 price objective. He observed that shares are presently valued at roughly 17x forward earnings — approaching historical lows — after a successful Blackwell product launch that delivered an estimated $500 billion in aggregate revenue.
CEO Jensen Huang is scheduled to present a keynote speech at 2 p.m. ET on Monday. He’ll additionally lead an industry discussion panel on Wednesday afternoon. Major technology firms participating in main stage presentations include OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Meta, Microsoft, and Tesla.
Regarding product announcements, Nvidia is projected to introduce its second-generation co-packaged optic switch, incorporating Taiwan Semiconductor’s co-packaged optic capabilities. Mass production isn’t anticipated to scale until 2027, targeting approximately 80,000 units. The organization may also share progress updates on its Feynman GPU platform and the Kyber NVL576 rack architecture.
Wells Fargo anticipates Nvidia will refresh its pipeline projections, potentially elevating its cumulative revenue forecast from $500 billion to beyond $600 billion through 2026. Rakers also questioned whether Nvidia will revise its projection of $3–$4 trillion annually in worldwide AI infrastructure expenditure by 2030.
CPUs Move to Center Stage
Apart from GPUs, a more subtle transformation is occurring. Agentic AI — task-focused artificial intelligence that coordinates operations across multiple agents — demands a distinct computing architecture compared to conventional AI inference. This development is driving central processing unit demand to unprecedented heights.
Nvidia’s head of AI infrastructure, Dion Harris, told CNBC this week that “CPUs are becoming the bottleneck in terms of growing out this AI and agentic workflow.” The company’s Vera CPU is in production and is already deployed at Meta data centers as part of a multiyear deal announced in February. Nvidia plans to expand that deployment in 2027.
Thousands of standalone Nvidia CPUs are currently operational at the Texas Advanced Computing Center and Los Alamos National Lab. Bank of America forecasts the CPU marketplace could more than double in size, expanding from $27 billion in 2025 to $60 billion by 2030.
At GTC, Nvidia is anticipated to display a CPU-exclusive rack configuration on the exhibition floor — demonstrating the company’s serious commitment to standalone CPU implementations.
Supply Crunch Tightens
The wider CPU industry is experiencing significant pressure. AMD and Intel have both alerted customers about supply limitations, with fulfillment lead times extending up to six months and pricing climbing more than 10%, based on Reuters reporting.
Forrest Norrod, AMD’s head of data center operations, informed CNBC that demand surges over the previous six to nine months have been “unprecedented.” Intel indicated inventory levels are projected to reach their lowest point this quarter, though the company anticipates supply conditions will improve throughout Q2 2026.
Currently, Nvidia reports it hasn’t experienced substantial CPU shipment disruptions. Harris explained the company’s supply chain has successfully accommodated demand, partially because the majority of its CPUs are shipped integrated with GPUs in complete rack-scale configurations.
Mercury Research calculates Nvidia captured a 6.2% portion of the server CPU marketplace in Q4 2025, trailing Intel at 60% and AMD at 24.3%. Additional stocks that may react to GTC announcements include AMD, Taiwan Semiconductor, Broadcom (AVGO), Intel, and Marvell (MRVL).
