Nvidia slides while AMD rises after Arista hints at a shift in AI accelerator demand
Shares of Nvidia fell and AMD gained after Arista Networks’ CEO said a growing slice of deployments is leaning toward AMD accelerators — a small signal investors are watching closely for cracks in Nvidia’s AI-chip dominance.
Markets are hypersensitive to any hint that the AI-chip pecking order is changing — and that showed up in Friday’s tape.
According to CNBC, **Nvidia (NVDA) shares fell nearly 3%** while **Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) rose close to 1%** after comments from **Arista Networks (ANET)** CEO Jayshree Ullal on the company’s earnings call.
## What Arista said
Ullal told investors that deployments that were once overwhelmingly Nvidia are showing a more meaningful mix:
- Roughly **20%–25%** of deployments may now be using **AMD** as the preferred accelerator, per her remarks.
Arista sits in a critical spot in the AI buildout, supplying **Ethernet switching** that connects high-performance chips in data centers. When Arista’s management talks about what customers are installing, markets listen.
## Why it matters for AI-chip leadership
Nvidia is still widely viewed as the dominant player in AI accelerators, but the market is watching for:
- **Share shifts at the margin** (even small ones) that could impact future expectations
- The pace at which alternatives (AMD and internal chips at hyperscalers) gain traction
- The networking stack’s evolution, as Nvidia builds more of its own end-to-end solution
CNBC notes Nvidia has been building its own networking technology, which can reduce reliance on third-party vendors like Arista — adding another competitive layer in the AI infrastructure race.
## What to watch next
Investors will likely focus on:
1. **Customer mix commentary** from other infrastructure suppliers
2. **Hyperscaler capex guidance** and GPU/accelerator procurement trends
3. Upcoming **earnings and product cycles** across the AI supply chain
*Draft prepared for Kicukiro Tech. Not investment advice.*
Source: CNBC