Nvidia (NVDA) Stock Climbs Ahead of Major GTC Conference This Monday

TLDR

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NVDA shares climbed 0.5% to $185.60 in premarket trading Wednesday following a 1.2% advance in the prior session
Annual GTC developer conference scheduled for March 16–19, expected to showcase new hardware potentially including an inference-focused chip
Thinking Machines Lab, an AI startup, plans to deploy a minimum of one gigawatt worth of Nvidia’s Vera Rubin systems, described by Nvidia as a “significant investment”
Major firms including UBS, Truist, and Bank of America maintain Buy recommendations with price targets ranging from $245 to $300
Analyst consensus shows Strong Buy with 38 Buy ratings and one Hold, average target price of $273.61 suggests approximately 48% potential upside

Nvidia shares moved higher in Wednesday’s premarket session as supply chain worries subsided and investor focus turned toward the company’s upcoming GTC developer conference scheduled for March 16–19.

NVIDIA Corporation, NVDA

NVDA traded 0.5% higher at $185.60 before the opening bell, extending the 1.2% rally from Tuesday’s session. Broader equity markets also showed modest gains.

The upcoming GTC conference has captured significant attention from the investment community. Market participants anticipate Nvidia will introduce new hardware solutions, possibly including a processor specifically designed for AI inference applications.

Timothy Arcuri from UBS doesn’t anticipate GTC will fundamentally reshape the investment narrative, though he believes it should reinforce investor conviction regarding system scalability and Nvidia’s dominant position in networking technology.

Arcuri highlighted that Nvidia has emerged as the top chip-networking company measured by revenue. The firm has also projected its networking sales run-rate by year-end will exceed the combined historical revenue of all competing companies in this segment.

Co-packaged optics represents a key technology area drawing analyst scrutiny — this innovation embeds optical engines directly with chips to enable high-speed data transmission. Nvidia recently pledged $2 billion investments to both Coherent and Lumentum, optical component manufacturers, alongside multibillion-dollar supply agreements.

Arcuri maintained his Buy recommendation and $245 price objective for NVDA.

William Stein from Truist is particularly interested in verification that Nvidia will deliver its next-generation Vera Rubin systems at scale during the latter half of this year. He’s also seeking additional information about the Feynman chip architecture that follows Rubin.

Stein characterized GTC as a “positive catalyst” and anticipates management will indicate supply, manufacturing, and demand factors are properly balanced. He maintains a Buy rating with a $283 price target.

Thinking Machines Deal Adds Pre-GTC Momentum

Prior to the conference, Nvidia received positive news from a partnership announcement with Thinking Machines Lab, an AI startup. The venture, headed by former OpenAI leader Mira Murati, intends to deploy no less than one gigawatt of Vera Rubin infrastructure.

Nvidia confirmed it has taken an equity position in Thinking Machines, though specific financial details weren’t revealed. CEO Jensen Huang has stated previously that a one-gigawatt data center represents approximately $35 billion in hardware expenditure. Deployment is slated to commence early next year under a multi-year arrangement.

Bank of America Eyes Product Roadmap Through 2028

Vivek Arya from Bank of America reiterated his Buy stance with a $300 price objective. His GTC focus centers on three elements: a refreshed product roadmap extending through the Feynman GPU generation in 2028, a broader portfolio of inference and decode offerings, and specifications on proprietary optics within scale-up networks.

Arya observed that Street consensus for Nvidia’s data center revenue already approaches $750 billion for the 2026–27 timeframe and nears $1 trillion for 2027–28.

The Street maintains a Strong Buy consensus rating on NVDA — comprising 38 Buy recommendations and one Hold. The mean price target stands at $273.61, suggesting roughly 48% upside potential from present levels. Shares have surged more than 70% during the past year.

AMD traded 0.2% higher while Broadcom advanced 0.1% in Wednesday’s premarket activity.

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