Tech stocks today: Samsung extends talks to avert looming strike, investors gear up for Nvidia earnings
Quick Take
Samsung extends negotiations to prevent a strike as investors prepare for Nvidia's earnings report.
Key Points
- Samsung aims to avert a potential strike.
- Investors are focused on Nvidia's upcoming earnings.
- Tech stocks are reacting to market uncertainties.
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Updated 1 min read
Tech stocks faced downward pressure on Monday morning as investors looked toward one of the quarterly earnings report from AI behemoth and $5 trillion+ company Nvidia (NVDA).
Nvidia’s results come out on Wednesday, after CEO Jensen Huang traveled to China with President Trump. Investors were hoping Chinese President Xi Jinping would allow Nvidia to import more chips to the country, but Trump told reporters Friday that China is instead focusing on developing its own AI processors.
Investors are also watching a potential 18-day strike at Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) — the world’s largest memory chip manufacturer — that could begin on May 21 if talks fail. A strike at Samsung would cause significant disruption to South Korea’s economy and to global supply chains that rely on its chips.
Meanwhile, jurors in Musk’s lawsuit versus OpenAI (OPAI.PVT) will begin deliberations Monday after lawyers for both sides give their closing arguments Thursday.
Musk’s lawsuit against one of the world’s most valuable private companies has provided a number of details about the inner workings of OpenAI and the relationships between Musk, Altman, president Greg Brockman, former chief technology officer Mira Murati, and former board member and mother of four of Musk’s children, Shivon Zilis.
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Samsung and its labor union extend talks as a disruptive strike looms
A dispute over semiconductor workers’ bonuses in Korea could upend global technology supply chains and weigh on South Korea’s economy, as Samsung’s (016360.KS) labor union has threatened to go on strike on May 21 for 18 days.
On Sunday, Samsung and the union agreed to extend negotiations after the first round of government-mediated talks failed and a South Korean court granted a partial injunction that could compel workers to show up amid a strike, according to Reuters.
Relations between the world’s largest memory chip manufacturer and its workers broke down over how bonuses are allocated. Samsung is expected to bring in $200 billion in operating profits this year amid booming chip demand, and employees are seeking a 15% share of those profits.
At stake, should the strike move forward, is 22.8% of South Korea's exports, which come from Samsung, as well as broader economic fallout across industries that rely on memory chips, including artificial intelligence, gaming, and consumer electronics like laptops. Already, companies are dealing with supply bottlenecks for memory and storage as AI data centers scoop up these components to try to meet booming demand.
"Just one day of suspension at Samsung Electronics' semiconductor factory is expected to incur direct losses of as much as 1 trillion won [$667.68 million]," South Korea’s Prime Minister Kim Min-seok said on Sunday, per Reuters.
Tens of thousands of unionized Samsung Electronics Co. employees participate in a rally in front of the Samsung Electronics Pyeongtaek Campus on April 23, 2026, in Pyeongtaek, South Korea. (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images) · Chung Sung-Jun via Getty Images SpaceX reportedly issues 5-for-1 stock split as IPO timeline accelerates
SpaceX (SPAX.PVT) is barreling toward its initial public offering, and it is trying to make its stock even more attractive with a stock split before it even debuts.
Bloomberg reported over the weekend that SpaceX told its investors it will implement a 5-for-1 stock split, a move that would potentially reduce the price of the stock ahead of its IPO.
SpaceX informed shareholders that the current fair market value per share has been adjusted to about $105.32 from $526.59 as a result of the split, per Bloomberg sources.
The stock split will be processed this week and is expected to be officially completed by May 22, the sources said.
News of the split comes as SpaceX is quickly headed toward the public markets. On Friday, Reuters reported that SpaceX is planning to price its IPO as early as June 11, with the rocket company listing on the Nasdaq starting on June 12.
Here's how Nvidia stock has historically performed after earnings
Yahoo Finance’s Jared Blikre reports:
For Nvidia (NVDA) investors, the first move after earnings has historically been only part of the story. Buying the stock just before quarterly results has produced modest short-term gains, but the longer-term picture has been much stronger.
This chart shows the difference clearly.
Nvidia: 10-year median return if you buy before earnings and hold for various periods · Yahoo Finance Since 2016, Nvidia’s post-earnings returns have been positive across every holding period studied. But the edge has been far more modest over the next day, week, or month than over a quarter or a year. The median gain has been only 0.3% after one day, 3.3% after one week, and 0.4% after one month. That rises to 11.1% over one quarter and 87.6% over one year.
That helps frame what traders are up against heading into the next report.
Options are pricing in a 6% post-earnings move, well above Nvidia’s typical daily range over the prior quarter. But it’s also close to what the stock has already shown it can do around earnings, based on its most recent setup.
Nvidia to report Q1 earnings as chip competition grows
AI heavyweight Nvidia (NVDA) will report its first quarter results on May 20, in what is easily one of the most anticipated announcements of the earnings season.
Yahoo Finance’s Daniel Howley previews what to expect:
In addition to its China woes, Nvidia is contending with increasing competition in the AI chip space. Chip company Cerebras (CBRS) held its initial public offering on Thursday, with shares climbing 68%.
Cerebras sells a different form of AI processor than Nvidia, which the company says offers faster overall performance speeds.
Nvidia is also facing ever-increasing competition from AMD (AMD), which will launch a competing rack-scale server system later this year, as well as from customers, including Amazon (AMZN) and Google (GOOG, GOOGL), which are offering their AI chips to third-party customers.
In its latest earnings report, Amazon announced that its chip business now has an annual revenue run rate of more than $20 billion and is growing at triple-digit percentages year over year.
— Originally published at finance.yahoo.com
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