Broadcom and Nvidia lead AI chip surge as US clears H200 exports, S&P 500 tops 7,500

Broadcom surged 5.5% and Nvidia gained 4.4% Thursday as reports that Washington cleared roughly 10 Chinese companies to purchase Nvidia H200 accelerators ignited AI hardware stocks, pushing the S&P 500 above 7,500 for the first time in history. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.88%, solid April retail sales data reinforced consumer resilience, and ongoing US-China trade talks in Geneva added a broad macro tailwind to a session that sent both indices to record closes.

Today's biggest movers

Broadcom surges 5.5% as Citi and Wells Fargo raise targets

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ: AVGO) was Thursday's standout performer, closing at $439.79 on volume of 19.4 million shares, a gain of 5.52% that pushed its year-to-date advance to 26.5%. Two Wall Street upgrades set the tone before the open: Citi analyst Atif Malik raised his price target to $500 from $475 and maintained a Buy rating, while Wells Fargo lifted its Overweight target to $545 from $430, both citing Broadcom's deepening position in custom AI accelerators for hyperscale data centers. Industry capex commitments of roughly $725 billion across the major cloud platforms in 2026 directly underpin demand for the networking and compute silicon that Broadcom designs. The stock has gained 10.4% over the past month and carries a Strong Buy consensus across 26 sell-side analysts.

Palo Alto Networks gains 4.6% on Idira AI identity platform launch

Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: PANW) closed at $238.21, up 4.57%, on the second full session following the May 12 launch of Idira, its new identity security platform built to govern human, machine, and agentic identities in AI enterprise environments. Jefferies analyst Joseph Gallo raised his price target to $265 from $215 and reiterated a Buy rating, calling Idira "a material product expansion into one of enterprise security's fastest-growing attack surfaces." PANW was also the second-largest mover in yesterday's session, where Baidu and Palo Alto Networks led the broader AI rally. The stock has recovered sharply from earlier 2026 weakness tied to integration costs; PANW is up 42.7% over the past month and 32.8% year-to-date.

TSMC climbs 4.5% as it lifts global semiconductor market outlook

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (NYSE: TSM) gained $18.00 to $417.72, responding to the company's revised forecast that places the global semiconductor market at $1.5 trillion by 2030. The Hsinchu-based foundry, which manufactures chips for Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) on its advanced nodes, reiterated first-quarter 2026 revenue guidance of $34.6 billion to $35.8 billion with operating margins expected between 54% and 56%. Full-year dollar-denominated revenue is expected to grow approximately 30%. TSMC's raised outlook arrives less than a week before Nvidia reports quarterly results, amplifying the positive read-through for AI chip demand across the supply chain. TSM is up 14.96% over the past month and 30.7% year-to-date.

Nvidia adds 4.4% on H200 China clearance ahead of May 20 earnings

NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) closed at $235.74, adding $9.92, after Reuters reported that the US government has cleared approximately 10 Chinese firms to purchase the H200, Nvidia's second-most-powerful AI accelerator. The news directly addresses an overhang that has weighed on Nvidia's forward revenue model since tightened export controls were introduced earlier in the cycle. Nvidia reports fiscal first-quarter 2027 results after the close on May 20; Wall Street consensus places revenue at $78.8 billion, implying approximately 75% year-over-year growth driven by Blackwell chip deliveries. The consensus analyst price target sits at $272, roughly 15% above Thursday's close. Dollar volume on NVDA exceeded $41 billion, making it the most actively traded name in the AI universe by that measure on the day. The stock is up 24.8% year-to-date.

Notable but quieter

ServiceNow Inc. (NYSE: NOW) bounced 4.0% to $90.50, with a session range of $85.44 to $92.00 pointing to active buying after the stock's 38.6% year-to-date slide. First-quarter results showed revenue of $3.77 billion, up 22% year-on-year, though earnings per share missed analyst estimates by 14%. Analysts retain a Strong Buy consensus with an average price target roughly 100% above the current price, suggesting the selloff has opened a valuation gap that value-oriented buyers are starting to close. ARM Holdings plc (NASDAQ: ARM) added 3.3% to $228.50, extending a run that has taken the stock up 40.8% over the past month and 99.2% year-to-date, the best performance of any large-cap semiconductor in the tracked universe. CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CRWD) rose 3.1% to $579.95, consolidating within an eight-session winning streak that has produced five-day gains of 9.9%.

Cloudflare Inc. (NYSE: NET) gained 3.7% to $199.81, a partial technical recovery after the stock dropped 24% on May 7 when the company reported first-quarter results and announced a workforce reduction of 1,100 employees, attributing the cuts to structural changes in how the business uses AI. Our May 7 recap covered Cloudflare's earnings reaction alongside Datadog and MongoDB. Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) fell 3.6% to $115.93 after a UBS research note confirmed server CPU market share slid 370 basis points sequentially in the first quarter, to 54.9%, while AMD gained ground to 27.4% and Arm-based designs reached 17.7%. Intel's Foundry division posted a $2.3 billion operating loss in Q1 2026, with analysts flagging below-target yields on the 18A and 14A process nodes. The average analyst price target of $68 sits 41% below Thursday's close. Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) shed 4.8% to $143.29, reversing part of Wednesday's 7.9% surge on the unveiling of a new agentic AI product suite. Investors appear to be locking in gains ahead of the Q1 2026 earnings call on May 18, where consensus forecasts call for revenue of $4.64 billion to $4.66 billion and EPS of $1.68 to $1.87.

What to watch next week

The session's dominant near-term catalyst is Nvidia's fiscal Q1 2027 earnings report, due after the close on May 20. Wall Street consensus implies 75% year-on-year revenue growth to $78.8 billion; options markets are pricing an implied move of roughly 8% in either direction. Baidu reports Q1 2026 results on May 18. US-China trade talks in Geneva continue, with any formal communique on export-control relief expected to move the semiconductor complex. The S&P 500 has now closed above 7,500 for the first time; Tuesday's session showed how quickly that momentum can unwind when macro data disappoints. There are no Federal Reserve speakers scheduled Friday.

Not investment advice.