AI slowdown fears drag Nasdaq lower and hit Nvidia, chipmakers

The Nasdaq was weighing on Wall Street as concerns about a slowdown in AI demand hit Nvidia and other chipmakers.

Nvidia's latest disclosed fiscal-year figures provide a strong operating backdrop: revenue was $215.9B, up 65.5% year over year, with a 71.1% gross margin and a 55.6% net margin. Those figures describe the company's fiscal year ended 2026-01-25 and are not evidence that current AI demand has changed.

For Nvidia, the direct mechanism is the link between AI infrastructure spending and demand for its accelerated-computing products. For other chipmakers, the same concern can affect demand expectations across the broader semiconductor supply chain.

The central uncertainty is that the market move reflects a concern about future demand rather than documented deterioration in current figures. It lacks quantified evidence of a slowdown, customer spending revisions, or new company forecasts establishing weaker orders.

The next decisive evidence would be Nvidia's next earnings release or guidance update, particularly commentary on data-center demand, customer spending and margins. Until then, the open question is whether the pressure remains a sentiment-driven reset or is followed by company-specific evidence of softer AI infrastructure growth.