AI stocks are at a crossroads as China’s Huawei is coming for Nvidia, while Meta is printing green indexes in the pre-market trading. Nvidia (NVDA) shares slipped 1.4% pre-market after reports emerged that Huawei is prepping a high-end AI chip to rival the mighty H100.

Financial markets are on the edge as earnings season heats up and tariff drama lingers. However, AI-linked cryptos posted a massive surge. On the other side, stock futures looked under pressure this morning as investors brace for a jam-packed earnings week. Dow futures dropped by 120 points, S&P 500 futures slid 0.54%, and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 0.63%. 

AI chip battle heats up

Nvidia shares slipped 1.4% in pre-market trading as the US continues to fence off China’s access to chipmaker’s top-shelf AI gear. If Huawei pulls off its chip rollout, the AI hardware battlefield is about to get way more interesting.

Reports suggest that sample batches could land as soon as late May, and Huawei’s already cozying up to Chinese tech giants for early testing. Meanwhile, Reuters says mass shipments of Huawei’s 910C chip are set to kick off next month. 

At the same time, the broader AI stock boom is starting to look a little tired. Microsoft and Nvidia are still carrying high expectations, but the rise of players like China’s DeepSeek has already disrupted the market. Meta share price has dropped by more than 6% in 2025 while Google has slid 14%, and the next moves could make or break the market.

Nvidia’s share price is down by almost 20% on a year-to-date basis. It is traded at an average price of $111.01 at the end of the last trading session. However, it has managed to gain 12% over the past 5 days. Microsoft’s share price also dipped by around 7% on the YTD and is trading at $391.85. Google’s GOOG price is also down by over 14% at $163.85. 

Meta is swinging big with its first-ever “LlamaCon” developer conference on April 29, where it’s expected to flex its open-source Llama models. It might even drop its own AI-powered search engine to take a swipe at Google.

Wall Street hangs on earnings guidance

Earnings season hits its peak with more than 180 S&P 500 companies reporting results. Investors are eyeing cloud earnings as AI infrastructure spending is exploding. Google Cloud has reported 28% revenue growth, while Microsoft will reveal its report on April 30, and Amazon follows on May 1.

So far, 73% of companies have beaten analyst estimates, and it is below the 5-year average of 77%. Wall Street’s expectations for Q2 and the rest of the year are coming down, though attention is fixed on the guidance. Tariff uncertainty is still hanging over the markets as President Trump’s plans have to move in his way. He has kept markets volatile as traders wait for clarity on policy direction.

The digital assets market posted green indexes amid the tariff tussle as Bitcoin regained the crucial $95K mark. The cumulative market cap is inches away from the $3 trillion psychological barrier, with trading volume of $73.4 billion.

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