AI Daily: Nvidia seen firming position as de facto AI infrastructure company

Catch up on the top artificial intelligence news and commentary by Wall Street analysts on publicly traded companies in the space with this daily recap compiled by The Fly:

AI INFRASTRUCTURE: Cantor Fitzgerald tells investors in a research note that Nvidia (NVDA) is solidifying its position as “the” de facto AI infrastructure company, quarterbacking the robust AI industry buildout that is in its infancy today, and believes compute is likely constrained for years to come into CEO Jensen’s $3T-$4T spend in 2030. The firm, which says it is “way too early” to call the AI peak, has an Overweight rating and $240 price target on Nvidia shares.

AI CHIP DEAL: A multi-billion dollar deal announced in May, which promised UAE investment in the U.S. in exchange for several hundred thousand AI chips from Nvidia has not materialized after months of talks, frustrating Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang as well as the White House AI Czar David Sacks, The Wall Street Journal’s Brian Schwartz, Amrith Ramkumar, and Josh Dawsey report, citing people familiar with the matter. The agreement is mostly in the hands of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who initially supported the deal but has since pressed the Emiratis to finalize their U.S. investments before his department authorizes the delivery of the chips, the report states.

GRADIENT VENTURES: Gradient Ventures has spun out of Alphabet’s (GOOG, GOOGL) Google to better position itself to win artificial intelligence deals, Yuliya Chernova of Wall Street Journal reports, citing people familiar with the situation. Gradient is now operating under a new management company and several limited partners, in addition to Google, are investing in its new venture fund, sources told the Journal.

ON THE SIDELINES: BofA initiated coverage of Astera Labs (ALAB) with a Neutral rating and $230 price target. The provider of AI connectivity semiconductor solutions addresses a multi-billion dollar market opportunity in AI scaling via its key retimer and switching chips and modules, based on the “PCIe” and soon the emerging “UALink” standards, but the firm flags potential deceleration in Astera’s growth on increasing competition from Nvidia’s “NVLink” and Broadcom’s (AVGO) “Scale-Up Ethernet” based switches.