- Nvidia lost $600 billion in market value after a 17% stock drop, the largest single-day loss in U.S. history.
- Chinese AI lab DeepSeek’s low-cost open-source model has fueled concerns over declining GPU demand.
- Broadcom, Dell, and Oracle saw steep losses as Nvidia’s decline rippled through the tech sector.
In a stunning turn of events, Nvidia saw its market value drop by nearly $600 billion on Monday—the largest single-day loss for any company in U.S. history. The chipmaker’s stock plummeted 17%, closing at $118.58, marking its worst trading day since March 2020, during the early days of the Covid pandemic.
This massive selloff followed Nvidia’s brief triumph last week, when it surpassed Apple as the most valuable publicly traded company. Monday’s tumble dragged down the tech-heavy Nasdaq, which fell 3.1% overall.
DeepSeek Sparks AI Market Anxiety
The sharp decline in Nvidia’s value was largely driven by concerns over Chinese AI lab DeepSeek, which is shaking up the global AI landscape. DeepSeek recently unveiled a free, open-source large language model, reportedly developed in just two months for under $6 million. Even more concerning for Nvidia? DeepSeek used downgraded H800 chips from Nvidia itself to build the model.
Nvidia dominates the AI data center GPU market, supplying tech giants like Alphabet, Meta, and Amazon with the processors needed to train and run their AI systems. But DeepSeek’s low-cost breakthrough has ignited fears that demand for Nvidia’s GPUs may have already peaked.
Analysts at Cantor, however, pushed back on this narrative in a report, arguing that “the AI industry will want more compute, not less.” They maintained their buy rating on Nvidia shares, emphasizing that continued advancements in AI will drive even higher demand for processing power.
Broader Fallout Hits the Tech Sector
The ripple effects of Nvidia’s decline were felt across the tech industry. Broadcom, another major chipmaker riding the AI wave, dropped 17%, erasing $200 billion in market value. Data center companies like Dell, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Super Micro Computer also fell, with each losing at least 5.8%. Oracle, which is tied to President Trump’s AI initiative, slid 14%.
For Nvidia, Monday’s loss more than doubled its prior record one-day drop of $279 billion in September, which had already surpassed Meta’s $232 billion loss in 2022. The $600 billion plunge exceeds the total market value of companies like Coca-Cola, Chevron, Oracle, and Netflix.
Jensen Huang’s Wealth Takes a Hit
Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, saw his personal fortune drop by roughly $21 billion, pushing him to 17th place on Forbes’ real-time billionaires list.
DeepSeek Dominates Headlines
Adding to Nvidia’s woes, excitement around DeepSeek surged over the weekend as its app overtook OpenAI’s ChatGPT to become the most-downloaded free app on Apple’s App Store in the U.S. Despite U.S. export restrictions on chips to China, DeepSeek’s rapid development has demonstrated that the global AI race is intensifying.
David Sacks, now serving as the White House’s AI and crypto czar under President Trump, commented on the competition, stating, “DeepSeek’s model proves the AI race will be fierce. We can’t afford to be complacent.” Sacks also applauded Trump’s decision to rescind a Biden-era executive order on AI safety, positioning the U.S. to remain competitive.
With Nvidia now trailing behind Apple and Microsoft as the third most-valuable public company, the question remains: how will this shakeup impact the future of AI and the global tech market?
