Stock Market Today, Dec. 26: Nvidia Rises on $20 Billion Groq Licensing Deal

Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), a leading GPU and AI platform developer, closed Friday at $190.53, up 1.02%. Nvidia IPO'd in 1999 and has grown 464,416% since going public. Trading volume only reached 136.8 million shares, coming in about 27% below versus its three-month average of 188.5 million shares.

Friday's action centered on Nvidia's $20 billion Groq licensing deal and analyst commentary framing it as a strategic AI and data center win that investors are watching for implications on future chip demand.

How the markets moved today

The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX:^GSPC) slipped 0.02% to 6,931, while the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX:^IXIC) eased 0.09% to 23,593. In Semiconductors, industry peers Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) fell 0.02% and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) edged up 0.11%, as traders weighed Nvidia-driven AI server momentum.

What this means for investors

Nvidia acquired assets from chip start-up Groq for about $20 billion. Groq was founded in 2016 by the developers of Alphabet's (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) tensor processing unit (TPU), which competes with Nvidia in the field of artificial intelligence workloads.

The deal also brought Groq executives, including its CEO, under Nvidia's umbrella. Investors see the move as a way to integrate Groq's AI inference technology, expanding Nvidia's leadership in the sector.

Today's move higher extended Nvidia's recent winning streak with the stock up over 11% in just the past six days.

Howard Smith has positions in Alphabet, Intel, and Nvidia and has the following options: short February 2026 $170 calls on Nvidia and short January 2026 $26 calls on Intel. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Alphabet, Intel, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.