🍠 NVIDIA’s stock slips as questions about CoreWeave grow - 2026.10.17

Hi, it’s Sweet Potato. Today, we’re laying out several perspectives on the table to sample together, so this might get a little long. 🍠 Here’s the gist: partnership news keeps pouring in, but the stock edged lower. NVIDIA closed at $214.29 on October 16, down 1.36%.

🍠 The stock slips, but partnership news keeps coming

That’s lower than $217.23 the previous day. Yet that same day, NVIDIA’s newsroom announced that NVIDIA and Mercedes-Benz are expanding their strategic partnership to advance safe, highly automated driving over the next 10 years ^[2]. In Korea, there was also news that AI laptops powered by NVIDIA RTX Spark would launch at 5,800,000 KRW ^[3]. It’s interesting, isn’t it, when the numbers are weak but the story keeps growing? Still, it’s not yet clear how these developments will translate into earnings.

⚖️ The questions CoreWeave raises

This is where things get complicated. YTN reported that concerns about an NVIDIA earnings bubble are surfacing on the New York stock market as CEO Jensen Huang steps up his defense of CoreWeave ^[1]. On Bloomberg TV, the discussion turned to how investors are viewing CoreWeave’s mounting debt and the cost of servicing it through the lens of a credit-risk reassessment ^[4]. On the other side is Huang’s optimism. On the 15th local time, he said CoreWeave’s financial strength is improving every day and its cost of capital is falling ^[5]. But that’s Huang’s assessment; we can’t claim to know the company’s actual financial condition for certain. Credit issues can make your head spin a little.

🤝 The conversation widens to cars and national AI strategy

In a CNBC interview, Huang stressed that the United States must win at every layer of the AI economy. He also said, “You cannot win if you don’t compete” ^[6]. In the same interview, he said NVIDIA must work with Chinese AI companies on monitoring the risks of AI, a technology he described as “potentially dangerous” ^[6]. It’s a forceful statement that can be interpreted in several ways. The discussion of expanding customers and partners sits alongside talk of national competition in the same interview.

🎯 Sweet Potato’s take

Here’s how I’d sum up the views of the four voices. Onion points out that the growing number of partnerships could signal that demand is broadening. Peanut, meanwhile, focuses first on CoreWeave’s debt. That puts Onion and Peanut’s views in direct conflict. Partnership announcements look like good news, while credit concerns could shake the foundation beneath that optimism, so I won’t force them into a single conclusion. Since both stories broke on the same day, I think it’s more honest to consider them separately. 🎯

Three questions remain: How will the cost of servicing CoreWeave’s debt actually change? Will the partnerships in automotive and PCs move into execution? And how much can Huang’s optimism temper the market’s reassessment of credit risk? Which one do you think will be answered first?

📰 Reference News (3)

📺 Reference Videos (3)

4

YouTube

Nvidia CEO Downplays CoreWeave Concerns After Risk Gauge Soars

▶Bloomberg Television·2026.10.15

5

YouTube

Jensen Huang optimistic despite CoreWeave credit concerns… “Cost of capital falling”

▶연합뉴스경제TV·2026.10.15

6

YouTube

Nvidia's Huang: America to win at 'every single layer' of the AI economy

▶CNBC Television·2026.10.15