A Bernstein analyst looked at Nvidia’s disclosures and came away with the view that many U.S. AI-server shipments seem to come from Mexico — meaning they could be exempt from the latest tariffs
Shares of Nvidia, led by Jensen Huang, lost nearly 15% across Thursday and Friday.
Nvidia Corp.’s stock is poised for another decline as tariff fears drive a further market selloff. But Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon said there could be “one (small) silver lining” for the chip company.
Rasgon looked at Nvidia’s posted disclosures about its compliance with export regulations, and he surmised that some of the company’s U.S. artificial-intelligence server shipments come from Mexico.
“Our (layman’s) read of the USMCA text suggests these product categories are in fact compliant with the agreement, and as such would be exempt from all new Trump tariffs,” Rasgon wrote, referring to the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement.
Nvidia didn’t immediately respond to a MarketWatch request for comment.
Though raw semiconductors are exempt from President Donald Trump’s new “liberation day” tariffs, Rasgon noted in an earlier report that most semiconductors make it to the U.S. through finished products like servers and computers that are subject to the tariffs.
As global markets reeled from Trump’s tariff announcement, Nvidia shares lost nearly 15% across Thursday and Friday. They’re down about 3% in Monday’s premarket trading.
Rasgon is still bullish on the stock, noting that it now trades at about 20 times forward earnings, near decade lows.
“We are not sure where NVDA (or anything else) will bottom in the near term,” he wrote Sunday. “But we do believe the AI narrative is still real. And once things do settle down (hopefully soon!) the stock at these levels is probably worth a look.”
Mizuho desk-based analyst Jordan Klein added that while the AI trade has stalled, with dour sentiment and no meaningful catalysts on the horizon, investors also seem to see a healthy business for Nvidia this year. “Funny thing also is that when I ask folks their view on NVDA fundamentals and ongoing investment spending and [capital expenditures] from hyperscalers, no one telling me they expect big cutbacks to come, at least not in 2025,” he wrote.