Key Points
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Nvidia started the first half of 2026 as a bit of an AI laggard.
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The stock price climbed only 5%.
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A new revenue generator is opening up for the company through orbital data centers.
- 10 stocks we like better than Nvidia ›
For the first six months of 2026, Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) hasn’t led the artificial intelligence (AI) trade. It opened the year at $189.84 on Jan. 2 and closed at around $200 on June 30. That’s a roughly 5% gain.
Anyone who invested $10,000 to start the year hasn’t seen much progress in their Nvidia investment. Still, there’s a market sector that can open up new revenue opportunities and reward patient Nvidia shareholders.
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What a $10,000 investment is worth after the first half of 2026
In the last five years alone, Nvidia’s stock price has climbed around 859% as of this writing. But as the company has continued to find success, it’s become more difficult to impress the markets, even when Nvidia easily beats quarterly expectations.
The chipmaker can still reward long-term shareholders, but expectations should be reasonable. Nvidia is not currently offering the kind of monster gains it has been known for in the past.
Anyone who purchased $10,000 worth of Nvidia stock through fractional investing at its Jan. 2 opening price of $189.84 got a little more than 52 shares. With the closing price of $200 on June 30, that initial $10,000 investment would be worth roughly $10,534.
What could help reignite enthusiasm around Nvidia?
One revenue growth opportunity for Nvidia will be in space, and it has already quietly been a behind-the-scenes player through its involvement with Space Exploration Technologies.
When the AI start-up Anthropic announced it was renting compute capacity from SpaceX’s data center, it revealed that the data center is powered by over 220,000 Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs). Alphabet has a similar deal, renting compute capacity that gives it access to 110,000 Nvidia GPUs.
That involvement with SpaceX will expand further, as Nvidia is set to serve as an initial supplier of hardware for SpaceX’s orbital data centers. SpaceX’s first version of the satellites it plans to use as data centers in space is called AI1 and will use Nvidia chips.
Also, Nvidia announced in March that it will be launching its Vera Rubin Space-1 Module at some point in the future. Instead of beaming data back to Earth for processing, this module will run AI computing directly in space.
“AI processing across space and ground systems enables real-time sensing, decision-making, and autonomy, transforming orbital data centers into instruments of discovery and spacecraft into self-navigating systems. With our partners, we’re extending Nvidia beyond our planet — boldly taking intelligence where it’s never gone before,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in the company’s press release for the Vera Rubin Space-1 Module announcement.
The bigger picture
Nvidia has set the bar so high in the past with some of its massive stock price runs that investors who are expecting repeat performances may be setting themselves up for disappointment.
That said, most AI roads still pass through Nvidia, whether on the ground or in space. It’s still the maker of some of the most advanced chips on the planet, and orbital data centers may open a new revenue stream.
Nvidia’s stock price can keep climbing and still reward long-term investors. But the blockbuster returns of the past shouldn’t become expectations for the future.
Should you buy stock in Nvidia right now?
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Jack Delaney has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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