New York, Feb 19, 2026, 16:44 EST — After-hours
- Shares of AMD climbed 1.6%, following news the company plans to back a $300 million Crusoe loan linked to its AI chip business.
- Nvidia shares barely budged, with investors still working through the details of its multi-year AI chip supply agreement with Meta.
- Chip stocks were under pressure: the iShares Semiconductor ETF dipped 0.6%.
Advanced Micro Devices rose on Thursday. Nvidia didn’t budge much, with AI shares ending up mixed in after-hours trading as traders tried to gauge chip demand—and wrestled with new questions about what’s paying for the boom.
Wall Street finished in the red, prompting traders to return to a familiar question at the heart of the AI rally: are earnings coming in quickly enough to support current valuations? “Not everyone’s going to win and not all expectations are going to be met,” said Keith Buchanan, senior portfolio manager at GLOBALT Investments. Reuters
Shares of AMD moved higher after Reuters, citing The Information, said the chipmaker is backing a $300 million loan guarantee for cloud startup Crusoe—money earmarked to purchase and roll out AMD’s AI chips. If Crusoe can’t secure enough customers, AMD reportedly plans to lease the chips back. The arrangement, designed to lower Crusoe’s borrowing costs, is also fueling ongoing arguments over “circular deals,” where chipmakers end up financing the very purchases that lift their own sales. Reuters
Nvidia is taking a different tack, banking on its massive scale and locking in lengthy contracts. This week, the company announced a multi-year deal to supply Meta Platforms with millions of AI chips—current models like Blackwell, with Rubin to follow, plus Grace and Vera central processors. Ian Buck from Nvidia said Meta’s already put Vera through its paces, reporting that “the results look very promising.” Investing
The Meta deal gave Nvidia and other AI-related stocks a bump the previous day, though gains since then have been spotty. “They were expensive and they’ve gotten cheaper,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird, referring to the dip-buying that kicked in after the sector’s retreat. Reuters
Fresh spending news from abroad: India’s Yotta Data Services plans to pour more than $2 billion into Nvidia’s newest chips, aiming to set up an AI computing hub, according to Reuters. The company is targeting deployment of over 20,000 Blackwell Ultra chips by August.
Big tech stocks didn’t all move in the same direction as chipmakers. Microsoft gave up 0.3%, with Alphabet off 0.2%. Broadcom managed a slight gain, but Taiwan Semiconductor and Arm ticked lower. The Nasdaq-tracking QQQ closed 0.4% in the red, and SPY, which follows the S&P 500, slipped 0.3%.
The bull thesis hasn’t changed in months—big buyers are still writing checks, supply keeps ramping up. But risks remain: regulators could scrutinize financing, customers might delay orders, or in-house chips and substitutes could grab more share than anticipated.
The real challenge is almost here. Nvidia will go over its fourth-quarter and full-year fiscal 2026 numbers on Feb. 25. Investors want to know about demand, margins, and if there’s any shift in order momentum for the new Blackwell and not-yet-launched Rubin platforms.
