UK investors rush to buy Nvidia dip

British investors are stepping up purchases of Nvidia shares after a sharp sell-off triggered by revelations about chief executive Jensen Huang’s affair with a suspected spy. In the past two days, Nvidia’s market value has fallen by about $430bn (£323bn) as the controversy and concerns over the cost of the artificial intelligence buildout weighed on the stock. Since reaching a high of around $240 in the first week of October, the share price has dropped by more than 29 per cent to close on Tuesday just below $169. On Wednesday, the stock was up 3 per cent in pre-market trading at about $175.

The scandal followed Huang’s admission that he had been in a romantic relationship with a Chinese businesswoman alleged to have passed information to Beijing. Over the course of 2026 the shares are down 4.2 per cent, with a 21.8 per cent loss over the past month.

Despite the sell-off, Nvidia was the most popular stock bought by investors across the AJ Bell and Dodl platforms between 5 and 9 November, covering pensions, ISAs and general investment accounts. Freetrade reported that Monday marked the highest value of Nvidia purchases ever seen in a single day on its platform, with the total value of buys jumping about 53 per cent compared with its previous record day in October 2025.

IG recorded a surge of more than 400 per cent in the number of clients buying Nvidia shares on Monday compared with the daily average of the previous ten trading days, while the overall value of shares bought increased 427 per cent. However, IG also saw selling trades rise 157 per cent, indicating that some investors used the volatility to reduce or close positions as others bought in.

Hargreaves Lansdown clients placed more Nvidia trades on Monday than during the entire previous seven days combined, with eight buyers for every seller. The platform recorded more than 11 times as many Nvidia trades as in the prior week.

The intensified trading comes as Nvidia faces both the fallout from the alleged spy scandal and a lawsuit from some investors who claim the company misled them over national security concerns. The company remains a central supplier of chips used in the buildout of artificial intelligence infrastructure, generating substantial quarterly revenues from this demand.

Analysts note that recent volatility in Nvidia shares is occurring against a backdrop of heightened nervousness around AI-related investments. There are concerns about a potential slowdown in the construction of data centres and uncertainty over the timing and scale of returns on the large sums invested so far. While some investors are backing Nvidia on the basis of its business fundamentals, others remain cautious about the risks linked to leadership uncertainty and the broader AI trade.