Nvidia’s Market Cap Hits $5 Trillion as CPU Ambitions and UK Sovereignty Deal Reshape the AI Landscape

Nvidia’s stock surged nearly 5% on Friday to $209.99, propelling the chipmaker’s market capitalization past the $5 trillion mark for the first time. The milestone, reached exactly one year after the stock touched its 52-week low, was triggered by an unlikely catalyst: Intel’s quarterly results.

Intel’s better-than-expected CPU sales lifted sentiment across the semiconductor sector, as investors increasingly bet that AI inference—the process of running trained models for user queries—will revive demand for traditional processors alongside Nvidia’s dominant graphics chips. The rally rippled through the industry: AMD jumped 14%, Arm climbed more than 13%, and Nvidia became the single biggest dollar gainer of the day.

Vera CPU Takes Aim at Intel’s Turf

Nvidia is quietly building a CPU strategy that could challenge Intel on its home ground. Following the Grace chip launched in 2023, the company unveiled the “Vera” processor at its GTC conference in 2026. Built on Nvidia’s proprietary “Olympus” core, Vera uses spatial multithreading—an architecture the company claims delivers double the efficiency of traditional x86 processors for AI workloads.

The logic is straightforward: by pairing its own CPUs with its GPUs in so-called superchips, Nvidia aims to eliminate data bottlenecks in AI data centers while reducing reliance on third-party suppliers. The move signals a broader ambition to control more of the AI hardware stack, from silicon to server racks.

A $2.5 Billion Bet on UK Data Sovereignty

While Nvidia pushes deeper into processor design, it is also expanding its infrastructure footprint. BT Group and Nscale, an Nvidia-backed cloud provider, have struck a deal to build sovereign AI services in the UK. The partnership will distribute 14 megawatts of computing capacity across three existing BT network sites, with Nscale providing GPU cloud services and BT contributing network connectivity and power.

The arrangement allows government agencies and businesses to run AI workloads that must remain within UK borders for regulatory reasons. Nscale is investing roughly $2.5 billion into the British market over three years, including a 50-megawatt campus in Loughton, Essex. Originally slated for late 2026, that project has been pushed to the second quarter of 2027 to accommodate installation of the latest Vera-Rubin-200 technology. For its clusters, Nscale has secured around 200,000 units of the Blackwell-generation GB300.

The BT-Nscale agreement reflects a broader trend: states and corporations increasingly want to control their AI infrastructure rather than outsource it to foreign providers. Similar projects are emerging across Europe, including the SUSE AI Factory in Prague, which launched on April 21, 2026 as a turnkey open-source platform running on Nvidia hardware.

Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Nvidia?

Nuclear Power and Google Partnerships

Beyond infrastructure, Nvidia is tackling the energy hunger of modern AI data centers. The company is working with nuclear specialist Oklo to secure long-term power for its energy-intensive Blackwell and B300 GPU clusters—a move that provides planning certainty for future sales.

At the same time, Nvidia is deepening its collaboration with Google on agentic and physical AI, targeting autonomous systems for complex enterprise tasks. These partnerships underscore Nvidia’s push beyond pure chipmaking into the broader AI ecosystem.

Valuation and the May 20 Test

In euro terms, Nvidia shares trade at €172.96—roughly 85% above last April’s low and about 4% below the 52-week high. The stock has gained more than 83% over the past twelve months and sits about 11% above its 30-day average and 9% above its 200-day moving average.

The company’s fourth-quarter revenue for fiscal 2026 came in at $68.1 billion, up 73% year-over-year. Its data center business alone grew 75% to $62.3 billion. For the current first quarter of fiscal 2027, management has guided for $78 billion in revenue—a figure that surpassed earlier market expectations.

Nvidia itself estimates the revenue potential of its Blackwell and Vera-Rubin platforms at $1 trillion by 2027. With partnerships like the BT deal, the company is locking in hardware presence in markets where data sovereignty is not optional but mandatory.

Yet the stock’s price-to-earnings ratio of roughly 40 times forward earnings leaves it vulnerable to disappointment. The next major test comes on May 20, when Nvidia reports quarterly results. Whether the $78 billion revenue forecast holds—or whether the stock comes under renewed pressure—will determine if the $5 trillion market cap is a foundation for further gains or a peak.