On August 4, 2026, NVIDIA (NVDA), the absolute hegemon in the global AI hardware field, disclosed the technical details and commercialization timeline of its next-generation Blackwell Ultra architecture at the "AI Hardware Summit 2026" in Silicon Valley. This heavy news instantly ignited the passion of the capital market. During after-hours trading, NVIDIA's stock price pulled up rapidly, with gains approaching 7% at one point, driving the company's market cap to surge by over $200 billion in a single day. This strong performance not only drove the after-hours strength of the entire Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) but also injected a shot of adrenaline into the Nasdaq index, which had been somewhat stagnant recently.

Blackwell Ultra Breakthrough: Dual Leap in Computing Power and Energy Efficiency

According to official data released by NVIDIA, the new Blackwell Ultra architecture has achieved a leapfrog improvement in computing power density and memory bandwidth. Compared to the previous generation Blackwell architecture, which was highly sought after by the market, the Ultra version improves training efficiency by nearly 40% when processing trillion-parameter Large Language Models (LLMs), while significantly reducing inference latency by 35%. Even more noteworthy to the industry is that against the backdrop of huge power consumption bottlenecks facing global AI data centers, Blackwell Ultra's energy efficiency ratio has doubled, with power consumption per generated token dropping sharply.

NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang stated at the summit: "We are entering the deep waters of generative AI. Blackwell Ultra is not just a faster chip; it is the infrastructure for building future 'Physical AI' and autonomous world models. We are deeply collaborating with the world's top cloud service providers to ensure this wave of computing power sweeps every industry in the most environmentally friendly and efficient way."

This technological breakthrough directly responds to market concerns about the "slowdown in AI computing power demand growth." In the first half of 2026, as the first round of AI infrastructure construction by major tech giants gradually landed, some investors began to question the sustainability of AI capital expenditure. The technical details released by NVIDIA this time undoubtedly declare to the market: the arms race of AI computing power is far from over, but is evolving towards higher-dimensional multimodality and embodied intelligence.

Wall Street Collective Celebration: Target Prices Densely Raised

NVIDIA's tech release was like throwing a boulder into a calm lake; Wall Street investment banks reacted unusually quickly and consistently. Within just two hours after the close of after-hours trading, several top investment banks released latest reports, raising NVIDIA's target price and rating.

  • Goldman Sachs: Raised NVIDIA's 12-month target price from $1,600 to $1,850, maintaining a "Buy" rating. Analysts pointed out that Blackwell Ultra's energy efficiency breakthrough will significantly reduce operating costs (OPEX) for cloud vendors, thereby locking in their capital expenditure budgets for fiscal year 2027.
  • Morgan Stanley: Reiterated NVIDIA as "Top Pick in US Tech Sector," raising target price to $1,900. The report emphasizes that NVIDIA's moat in AI networking is deepening, and the high-bandwidth advantage of its NVLink technology makes it difficult for competitors to pose a substantial threat in the short term.
  • BofA: Expects NVIDIA to welcome a new round of "hyperscale replacement wave" in Q4 2026, with data center revenue expected to grow 25% quarter-over-quarter, raising target price to $1,950.

From the perspective of after-hours capital flow, not only did NVIDIA single stock rise, but the entire AI industry chain also received hot money. Optical module leader Broadcom, server manufacturing giant Wistron, and cooling solution provider Vertiv all recorded significant gains in after-hours trading. This indicates that market capital is trading the core logic of "AI hardware upgrade cycle continuing."

Nasdaq Index Poised for a New Round of Breakthroughs

As one of the individual stocks with the highest weight in the Nasdaq index, NVIDIA's strong performance has a pivotal impact on the broader market. Since the second half of 2026, the Nasdaq index has fallen into a stalemate of high-level consolidation after the surge in the first quarter. On one hand, the repeated expectations of Fed rate cuts have made market liquidity expectations unstable; on the other hand, the performance of tech giants during earnings season has been mixed, leading to a lack of a clear main attack line for the market.

NVIDIA's tech release in early August coincides with the opening of the Q3 market season for US stocks and is expected to become a catalyst to break the Nasdaq deadlock. The macro strategy team at Allianzaz Global Finance pointed out: "The underlying logic of tech stocks is always earnings growth expectations brought by technological iteration. NVIDIA has proven that AI monetization capabilities are still accelerating, which will support the Nasdaq index in challenging historical highs in the coming months."

Additionally, from market sentiment indicators, although recent volatility in the broader US market has risen, bullish sentiment towards NVIDIA in the options market continues to heat up. Data shows that open interest for NVIDIA call options expiring in August surged by 18% after the news release, with strike prices concentrated in the $1,700 to $1,850 range, showing that off-market capital is positioning for a potential upward breakout.

Investor Strategy: How to Grasp the Second Half of the AI Hardware Cycle?

Facing the market anomaly triggered by NVIDIA, how should ordinary investors adjust their US stock asset allocation? Allianzaz Global Finance provides the following three strategic references for investors:

1. Focus on Industry Chain Diffusion Opportunities

Although NVIDIA is the biggest winner of the AI wave, its high valuation also means that stock price elasticity may gradually converge. Investors can turn their attention to the "water sellers" in the AI hardware industry chain, such as High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) chip manufacturers, advanced packaging and testing companies, and liquid cooling data center equipment suppliers. These sub-sectors have high certainty of performance growth and relatively more attractive valuations.

2. Beware of Short-Term Crowded Trading Risk

It should be noted that after-hours rallies are often accompanied by pressure from short-term profit-taking. After NVIDIA officially opens, if trading volume cannot effectively expand, the stock price may experience a volatile trend of rising then falling. For short-term traders, blindly chasing highs is a taboo; patience is required to wait for an intraday pullback to key moving averages (such as the 10-day or 20-day) to find support before entering.

3. Focus on Fed Policy and Macro Liquidity

The extreme valuation expansion of tech stocks relies heavily on the coordination of the macro liquidity environment. Although NVIDIA's fundamentals are solid, if the Fed's monetary policy shift in the second half of the year falls short of expectations, high risk-free interest rates will still suppress the overall valuation of the Nasdaq. Investors need to closely watch upcoming US inflation data and labor market indicators to judge the true pace of Fed rate cuts.

Conclusion

August 4, 2026, is destined to become an important node in the development history of US tech stocks. With the Blackwell Ultra architecture, NVIDIA proved to the world that Moore's Law is not dead, but has been reborn in the form of an explosion in AI computing power. In this vigorous technological revolution, the US stock market remains the best stage for global technological innovation and capital monetization. Allianzaz Global Finance will continue to track real-time US stock market trends and AI industry dynamics for you, helping you accurately seize investment opportunities in a complex and changing market.