Nvidia Is Now Paying to Train Plumbers, and the Stock That Should Benefit Most Just Hit a 52-Week Low
Yahoo Finance ·
Nvidia just committed serious money to train plumbers and electricians, and the retailer that sells to those exact tradespeople responded by printing a 52-week low. Something in that equation does not add up. On September 1, 2026, the Lowe’s Foundation announced what it called the nation’s largest skilled trades coalition, with NVIDIA ( NASDAQ:NVDA | NVDA Price Prediction ), AT&T, Bank of America, Carrier, General Motors, DEWALT and Duke Energy signing on to train 1 million skilled trades workers by 2030. That same day, Lowe’s ( NYSE:LOW ) stock hit a 52-week low. Read that again. The chipmaker at the center of the AI data center buildout is paying to train plumbers and electricians, because there are not enough of them to wire, cool and plumb the buildings that will house its GPUs. The retailer that sells to those same tradespeople just printed a 52-week low. On the fiscal Q2 2027 call, Jensen Huang stepped away from silicon and onto the job site: “All of the labor that’s necessary. AI infrastructure is creating so many jobs all over the United States and all around the world.” NVIDIA just posted $96.22 billion in Q2 revenue, up 105.8% year over year, with data center revenue at $89.02 billion. Huang told analysts “you’ve got to go secure the land power and shell, which oftentimes is a couple, two, three years out.” No trades, no factories. No factories, no tokens. Federated Hermes senior portfolio manager Stephen DeNichilo went on CNBC the next evening and confirmed it: “if you’re a plumber, if you’re a hvac guy, you’re busy right now. You don’t have enough work out there. And so you don’t have enough time for all the work you have out there.” He called the moment “a generational opportunity for investment in the us”, and noted the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book found “data centers were driving a lot of the economic activity.” Lowe’s CEO Marvin Ellison put a number on the stakes on CNBC, warning the shortage could create a $1 trillion economic loss for the U.S. And yet. Lowe’s closed at $199.84 on September 2, 2026, down 21% over one year and down 16% year to date. The Pro customer Lowe’s has spent years courting is the same tradesperson NVIDIA is now paying to train. I’ve owned NVIDIA for over 15 years, and the through-line of every earnings call is the same: demand exceeds supply, and supply is capped by physical constraints . Broadcom ( NASDAQ:AVGO ) told the same story this week. AI semiconductor revenue hit $16.70 billion, up 221% year over year, and Hock Tan flagged land, power and shell construction as gating constraints. Same bottleneck, different logo, and it’s why the power, cooling and networking suppliers behind the buildout keep showing up in our free AI infrastructure report . Buy Lowe’s if you believe the Pro backlog eventually shows up in same-store sales. Avoid it if you think a soft housing cycle drowns out the data center tailwind first. NVIDIA is paying to train the plumbers. The market is pricing the plumbers’ supplier at a 52-week low. One of those signals is wrong. Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections. I've been writing about stocks and personal finance for 20+ years. I believe all great companies are tech companies in the long run, and I invest accordingly.
DYAX Investor Sentiment
Bullish (Long) 52% · Bearish (Short) 48%
384 participants
Related News
- Market Chatter: Crusoe Raises Over $3 Billion At $30 Billion Valuation
- TSLA Stock Rallies Into Invite-Only Cybercab Event — Then Trades Flat After-Hours As The Wheel-Free Car Hits Austin Streets
- Why Phreesia Stock Tumbled Today
- Where Will Bitcoin Be in 2030?
- Why Microsoft Stock Is Up Today
- Why Copart Stock Ticked 4% Higher on Thursday
