NVIDIA Corporation and AMD consecutively purchased, investment banks raise target price! AI chip + optical interconnect leader Marvell Technology, Inc. (MRVL.US) earnings report may trigger another round of AI frenzy.

Wall Street investment bank Stifel has significantly raised its target price for Marvell Technology, Inc. (MRVL.US), one of the largest partners in the custom AI chip (AI ASIC) and optical interconnect technology space focused on large AI data centers, as well as being a major partner in Amazon.com, Inc.'s AWS Trainium series AI ASIC. The bank also stated that it expects the company to exceed expectations and raise its guidance when it releases its financial report on May 27. Analyst Tor Svensberg stated, "We expect Marvell Technology, Inc.'s performance to surpass our revenue expectations of $2.4 billion for the quarter ending in April (an 8.2% increase from the previous quarter), with growth likely coming once again from the data center business (representing 74% of revenue in the quarter ending in January), primarily driven by the continued ramp-up of optical interconnect technology and the company's core XPU project." "We believe that with the accelerated deployment of 1.6T optical communication, the mass production of Amazon.com, Inc.'s AWS Trainium 3, and broader XPU adoption momentum, Marvell Technology, Inc. may raise its revenue guidance for the quarter ending in July (forecast for the second quarter of fiscal year 2027) to above our current expectation of approximately $2.59 billion (an 8% increase from the previous quarter)." Svensberg maintained a "buy" rating for Marvell Technology, Inc. and raised its target price from $140 to $210. Marvell Technology, Inc. (Marvell) has been driven by the resonance of the core logic of "AI ASIC/XPU + optical technology" in this round of stock price repricing and fundamental revaluation, rather than just the demand for chips. The stock price of Marvell has risen by as much as 130% this year. The general analyst consensus predicts that Marvell Technology, Inc. will achieve earnings per share of $0.79 and revenue of $2.4 billion in the upcoming first quarter. AI ASIC is undoubtedly the first core pillar of valuation and fundamental growth for Marvell Technology, Inc., and the strong financial reports from Broadcom Inc. and Marvell in recent years are enough to show the unprecedented strong growth logic of AI ASIC being rapidly confirmed by "financial level evidence." The global wave of generative AI has accelerated the development of AI chips by cloud computing and chip giants, with companies vying to design the fastest and most energy-efficient AI computing infrastructure clusters for advanced large AI data centers. Optical interconnect is the second core pillar that Wall Street analysts see as driving Marvell Technology, Inc.'s stock price prospect and fundamental expansion logic, and it is also an important factor in NVIDIA Corporation's investment of $2 billion in the company. When the connection distance exceeds about 10 meters, copper interconnects cannot meet the high-speed bandwidth and distance requirements of large AI data centers; at this time, they must turn to optical interconnect systems, with the core hardware in optical devices being a series of optical DSP and optical interconnect products that Marvell excels in. Optical interconnect focuses on high-speed links between servers, switches, racks, and data centers. Looking ahead, Marvell's leading silicon photonics technology is also a core logic that Wall Street is bullish on, and silicon photonics is not an alternative concept parallel to optical interconnect, but more like a key technology that further pushes light from outside the cabinet, between racks, to inside the racks, systems, and even packaging. More accurately, silicon photonics technology tends to push optical transmission towards the chip/packaging/I/O side, which is why Marvell chose to acquire Celestial at a high cost. AMD and NVIDIA Corporation consecutively invested AMD's disclosure of shares sparks "merger speculation" On May 12, AMD disclosed its holdings in Marvell in a regulatory filing, attracting strong market attention. On May 13, Marvell Technology, Inc.'s stock price surged by 8.18% to $177.95, reaching a historic closing high. The market immediately speculated on potential strategic acquisition intentionsAMD has a strong presence in data center CPU and GPU fields, but its AI interconnect technology is relatively weak, while Marvell is a leading company in this area. Although both parties have not made any statements on the merger so far, AMD's holdings themselves signal to the market that this chip giant, valued at around $400 billion, is closely monitoring Marvell's strategic value. NVIDIA Corporation's $2 billion strategic investment and NVLink Fusion On March 31, NVIDIA Corporation announced a strategic cooperation agreement with Marvell, incorporating Marvell into its AI factory and AI-RAN ecosystem through the NVLink Fusion platform and investing $2 billion strategically. For Marvell, the significance of this deal far exceeds the funds alone. First, the technical integration puts Marvell Technology, Inc. at the intersection of the GPU and ASIC ecosystems. NVLink Fusion allows customers to flexibly introduce Marvell's custom chips and network products on the NVIDIA Corporation architecture to build heterogeneous AI infrastructure. Second, the $2 billion strategic investment is the highest level of recognition of Marvell's technological position by NVIDIA Corporation. RBC Capital analyst Pajjuri commented that this is a "strong validation of Marvell's leadership in the optical interconnect field." From a strategic perspective, NVIDIA Corporation's layout carries a deeper level of defense logictheir "investment of $6 billion in optical interconnect strategies within 30 days." Against the backdrop of intensifying competition in AI computing power, NVIDIA Corporation is locking in interconnect as a strategic infrastructure through capital ties, ensuring that its GPU empire is not isolated.