Nvidia Falls Flat Post-GTC — What Disappointed Investors?
Nvidia’s Keynote Delivered Energy — but Not the Surprise Investors Wanted
Jensen Huang took the stage with trademark enthusiasm, speaking for nearly two hours — reportedly without a teleprompter — about Nvidia’s bold future. But for investors hoping for a game-changing announcement, the presentation fell short.
Nvidia shares (NVDA) closed down 3.4% on the day, deepening losses that had already begun before Huang’s keynote.
While Nvidia’s roadmap is undeniably impressive — highlighting advances in AI, robotics, autonomous driving, and quantum computing — much of what Huang presented felt familiar. “The things Huang said had already been said,” observed Maribel Lopez, founder of Lopez Research.
Investors had been hoping for an unexpected catalyst: a surprise revenue stream or a groundbreaking product reveal. Instead, Huang pointed to areas that are still in development and years from delivering meaningful financial returns. Quantum computing remains a long-term prospect, and while robotics is growing, it won’t scale as quickly as Nvidia’s core chip business, according to Lopez.
Jefferies analyst Blayne Curtis also expressed mild disappointment, saying he had hoped for “more proof points” demonstrating how Nvidia could expand its total addressable market and drive greater cost advantages. Still, he acknowledged Nvidia’s unmatched strength across hardware, software, and vertical markets.
Huang did reveal Nvidia’s product cadence moving forward: a new platform every 12 to 18 months. Next up is Vera Rubin, arriving in late 2026 with 3.3x the performance of today’s Grace Blackwell system and 144 GPUs. Vera Rubin Ultra will follow in late 2027, delivering a massive 14.4x performance increase with 576 GPUs. The company also teased its next-generation platform, “Feynman,” expected in 2028.
Curtis noted that Vera Rubin appears to be an incremental upgrade, with Rubin Ultra marking the more significant leap.
Even so, Nvidia’s ability to innovate rapidly continues to give it an edge. “Even when they stumble, they recover fast,” Lopez said, pointing to the company’s unwavering ability to stick to its ambitious product cycle.
Huang ended by reminding the audience that Nvidia’s technology isn’t an impulse buy. “This isn’t like buying a laptop,” he said. Enterprises need time to plan budgets, infrastructure, and power demands — part of a much larger vision that remains firmly in place, even if short-term surprises are in short supply.
