Key Takeaways
- Rental rates for H100 chips increased 22% within a single month, reaching $3.28 per hour by September 2026
- CEO Jensen Huang described Nvidia’s computing infrastructure as “fungible, durable and highly rentable”
- Initial H100 rental pricing ranged from $7 to $8 per hour at launch
- The company delivered record-breaking quarterly revenue of $96.2 billion in August 2026, representing 106% growth year-over-year
- Analyst consensus shows 29 Strong Buy ratings with a mean price target of $325.23
Shares of Nvidia (NVDA) started Tuesday’s trading session at $230.36, registering a 0.84% gain as CEO Jensen Huang reinforced his position on the sustained value proposition of the company’s legacy chip architecture.
In his remarks, Huang emphasized that “NVIDIA compute is fungible, durable and highly rentable. It is a productive, revenue-generating asset.” His statement came as hourly rental costs for the H100 processor climbed 22% over a 30-day period.
By September 2026, H100 rental pricing reached $3.28 per hour. Despite being three years old, this processor continues to serve as the backbone for numerous AI applications and platforms currently in production.
However, perspective matters here. At the time of its market debut, H100 on-demand rental costs at leading cloud infrastructure providers ranged from $7 to $8 hourly. The current increase represents a rebound rather than an all-time peak.
Factors Behind the Price Surge
The latest Nvidia Blackwell architecture chips are being allocated primarily to major enterprise clients, creating increased demand for existing H100 infrastructure to handle standard AI processing tasks.
Ongoing constraints in power availability and memory resources throughout data center facilities continue to support elevated rental pricing. These supply-side pressures are significantly influencing the current market dynamics.
Cloud infrastructure provider CoreWeave (CRWV) reported $35 billion in outstanding debt as of June 2026. Additionally, Nvidia has entered agreements to lease back idle computing capacity from partner ecosystems, a practice some analysts suggest inflates reported quarterly revenues.
Notable short sellers, including Michael Burry, contend that actual chip operational lifespans fall short of corporate projections. While Nvidia’s official depreciation schedule spans five to six years, critics maintain this timeframe overstates practical usability.
Financial Performance and Market Outlook
The company disclosed $96.22 billion in quarterly revenue, reflecting 105.9% year-over-year expansion. Earnings per share reached $2.22, surpassing Wall Street consensus estimates of $2.09.
Following the August 2026 earnings release, NVDA stock surged more than 4% in subsequent trading.
The company’s board greenlit an $80 billion share repurchase initiative, while a $0.25 per share quarterly dividend payment is scheduled for October 1, 2026.
Institutional ownership remains robust. Webster Bank N.A. maintains 206,799 Nvidia shares worth approximately $41.38 million, representing its sixth-largest holding, despite reducing the position by 3.3% during Q2.
The chipmaker is also advancing a proposed $12.93 billion acquisition of Hugging Face, a move market observers believe would strengthen its position in AI software infrastructure.
According to TipRanks, all 29 covering analysts assign NVDA a Strong Buy rating with complete unanimity. The consensus 12-month price target stands at $325.23, suggesting approximately 41% potential upside from present trading levels.
In related analyst activity, KGI Securities elevated its Nvidia price objective from $335 to $345 on August 27, 2026. BMO Capital Markets maintains a $340 target alongside an outperform recommendation.
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