Nvidia Shares Fall 4.4% as Semiconductor Index Drops 6.8%

Nvidia shares fell 4.4% as a 6.8% drop in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index put the cost of financing AI infrastructure back in focus for investors.

The chipmaker's market value was about $5.12 trillion after the slide. It had recently reached $5.9 trillion as Nvidia shares touched $243.37, with strong fiscal second-quarter results and an upbeat third-quarter outlook supporting the rally.

The pressure spread to AI cloud operators that lease GPU capacity to developers. CoreWeave dropped 10.06%, Applied Digital fell 9.01%, IREN lost 8.37% and Nebius declined 7.23%. Investors have focused on data-center costs, debt used to fund expansion and the time needed to turn that investment into profit.

Nvidia has sought to ease financing concerns. In August, it announced a $500 billion AI financing plan with several major Wall Street firms. The company is also backing nearly $10 billion in European AI infrastructure spending for companies, universities and research groups.

At GTC Berlin, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang described demand for neocloud computing as exceptionally strong and said operators need working capital to expand. The funding debate centers on whether the companies can continue financing new data centers and chip purchases as they work toward profitability.