By Danny Vena
Publication Date: 2026-01-13 00:00:00
Key Points
A wave of uncertainty washed over Nvidia investors in 2025.
The chipmaker weathered the storm and delivered market-beating returns.
Several catalysts could push the stock to new heights in 2026.
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If 2025 taught us anything, it was the fact that uncertainty is the only constant.
Take Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) for example. The chipmaker notched blistering gains for two successive years before its growth was stunted by uncertainty last year. A notable list of challenges faced the company in 2025, yet investors climbed a wall of worry that initially sent the stock plummeting 37%. To close out the year, however, the stock soared 38.9%, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence, more than double the 16.4% gains of the S&P 500.
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Let’s look at what drove the stock higher in 2025 and why there might be more to come in the year ahead.
Image source: Nvidia.
A wave of uncertainty
The bar was set high for Nvidia last year, as it had delivered back-to-back years of triple-digit growth, fueled by demand for artificial intelligence (AI). Although a deceleration of its growth was expected, it still made some investors nervous.
Moreover, some feared that the introduction of DeepSeek’s R1 reasoning model would reduce demand for Nvidia’s AI-centric graphics…
