Nvidia Slips in Pre-Market as Report Flags Over 15% Jump in AI Server Prices; Indian IT Stocks Trade Mixed

Aug 24: Shares of Nvidia (NVDA) ended Friday’s regular session at $214.72, down $2.13, or 0.98 per cent, on the Nasdaq. The stock, part of the Nasdaq 100, continued to slide in pre-market trade on Monday, quoted at $213.0627, down $1.6573, or 0.77 per cent, as of 7:11 am ET. The bid stood at $212.94 for 40 shares and the ask at $213.09 for 100 shares, with pre-market volume already running into the lakhs. Nvidia has traded within a 52-week range of $164.07 to $236.54, and Monday’s pre-market levels sit comfortably within that band, though closer to the midpoint than the yearly high. 

The stock’s intraday chart showed a steady, modest advance through most of the early pre-market hours, holding gains in a narrow band above the flatline, before a sharp reversal set in around 7 am, when the stock plunged abruptly into negative territory. The drop coincided with a spike in trading volume, suggesting the move was driven by fresh news flow rather than routine pre-market drift. 

That news flow centred on a Bloomberg report, published Saturday, that some of Nvidia’s largest customers have been told prices of servers containing its AI chips will rise by more than 15 per cent in many cases, driven by soaring memory chip costs. According to the report, which Reuters said it could not immediately verify, the price increases will apply to systems shipped early next year and will affect products including those built around Nvidia’s flagship Vera Rubin and Grace Blackwell chips. The size of the increase will vary depending on the chip generation and memory configuration involved, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. 

Companies that build servers under contract for major data centre operators, including Microsoft, Alphabet’s Google and Oracle, have recently informed their own customers about the coming price hikes, the report added. Nvidia did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours. The development lands just days before Nvidia is due to report its second-quarter results on August 26, a print that markets will watch closely given the company’s outsized role as a bellwether for the broader AI infrastructure buildout, spanning chipmakers as well as the companies financing the rapid expansion of data centre capacity. 

Indian IT Stocks Trade Mixed as Nvidia Pricing Concerns Add To Sector Watch 

Back home, the Nifty IT index was trading at 30,596.90, up 64.65 points, or 0.21 per cent, against a previous close of 30,532.25. The index opened at 30,579.60 and moved in a range of 30,484.80 to 30,892.90 during the session, holding well below its 52-week high of 40,301.40 even as it trades comfortably above its 52-week low of 25,699.10. The index has gained 6.36 per cent over the past 30 days, even as it remains down 13.67 per cent over the past year. 

Trade within the index was mixed. HCL Technologies (HCLTECH) led gainers, rising 1.5 per cent to Rs 1,322 from a previous close of Rs 1,302.50. LTIMindtree (LTM) added 0.84 per cent to Rs 4,525.70 from Rs 4,487.80, while Infosys (INFY) gained 0.8 per cent to Rs 1,130 from Rs 1,121. Persistent Systems (PERSISTENT) rose 0.47 per cent to Rs 5,694 from Rs 5,667.50, and Wipro (WIPRO) edged up 0.29 per cent to Rs 181.31 from Rs 180.79. Tech Mahindra (TECHM) closed flat at Rs 1,584. 

On the losing side, Oracle Financial Services Software (OFSS) fell 1.76 per cent to Rs 11,518 from Rs 11,724, the steepest decline in the index. Coforge (COFORGE) dropped 0.99 per cent to Rs 1,873 from Rs 1,891.70, while Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) slipped 0.78 per cent to Rs 2,284.10 from Rs 2,302. Mphasis (MPHASIS) eased 0.12 per cent to Rs 2,427 from Rs 2,430. 

While Indian IT companies are largely services providers rather than chip or hardware manufacturers, the sector’s fortunes remain closely tied to the broader health of the global technology capital expenditure cycle, particularly spending by hyperscalers such as Microsoft, Google and Oracle on AI infrastructure. Any sustained rise in the cost of AI servers, driven by higher chip and memory prices, could have second-order effects on the pace of data centre investment, a trend Indian IT services firms have increasingly positioned themselves to benefit from through cloud migration, AI integration and infrastructure management deals. With Nvidia’s earnings due later this week, investors in both US tech and Indian IT counters are likely to watch closely for management commentary on AI demand durability and the pricing dynamics flagged in the weekend report. 

Sources

• https://www.nseindia.com/market-data/live-equity-market?symbol=NIFTY%20IT
• https://www.nasdaq.com/market-activity/stocks/nvda