NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) shares ticked up less than half a percent in Friday's premarket session as risk appetite firmed. Nasdaq futures were up 0.72%, while S&P 500 futures gained 0.39%. But the real action might be happening behind the scenes.

The company is exploring a potential partnership with South Korean AI chip startup Rebellions, as CEO Jensen Huang continues to broaden NVIDIA's reach across the AI ecosystem through technology agreements and investments.

NVIDIA Discusses Rebellions Partnership

Huang met with Rebellions co-founder and CEO Sunghyun Park at NVIDIA's Santa Clara headquarters this week, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The discussions covered possible cooperation that could include a technical partnership, an investment, or potentially an acquisition. The talks remain preliminary and may not result in a transaction.

NVIDIA held $50.33 billion in cash and equivalents as of April 26, 2026, so it's not short on firepower if it decides to pull the trigger.

Rebellions designs neural processing units for data centers, focusing on AI inference workloads. The six-year-old company has raised about $850 million from investors including SK Hynix Inc. (SKHY), Samsung Ventures, and Arm Holdings Plc (ARM), and was most recently valued at roughly $2.3 billion.

Huang Continues AI Investment Push

Huang has pursued a broad investment strategy as NVIDIA works to maintain its central position in artificial intelligence.

In late 2025, NVIDIA reached an unconventional agreement with AI chip company Groq. NVIDIA secured a nonexclusive technology license and brought over most of Groq's engineering talent, while Groq continued operating independently and retained its cloud business.

A potential Rebellions transaction would extend that strategy into a startup developing chips designed to compete with NVIDIA in AI inference. It's a classic move: if you can't beat them, buy them (or at least partner with them).

Earnings & Analyst Outlook

The countdown is on: NVIDIA is set to report earnings on August 26, 2026. Here's what the Street is looking for:

• EPS Estimate: $2.07 (up from $1.04 year-over-year)
• Revenue Estimate: $91.91 billion (up from $46.74 billion year-over-year)
• Valuation: P/E of 33.2x, indicating a premium valuation relative to peers

Analyst Consensus & Recent Actions: The stock carries a Buy rating with an average price forecast of $327.04. Recent analyst moves include:

• RBC Capital: Outperform, maintains forecast at $300.00 (August 20)
• Wells Fargo: Overweight, maintains forecast at $315.00 (August 11)
• KeyBanc: Overweight, raises forecast to $330.00 (July 14)

Top ETF Exposure

NVIDIA is a heavyweight in several ETFs, which means its stock price can be influenced by flows into these funds. Here are the top ones:

• Franklin Focused Dynamic Growth ETF (NASDAQ: FFOG): 9.73% weight
• First Trust Innovation Leaders ETF (NYSE: ILDR): 9.79% weight
• Xtrackers Net Zero Pathway Paris Aligned US Equity ETF (NYSE: USNZ): 9.73% weight

Significance: Because NVDA carries such a heavy weight in these funds, any significant inflows or outflows for these ETFs will likely force automatic buying or selling of the stock.

Price Action

NVIDIA shares were up 0.21% at $217.30 during premarket trading on Friday.

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