Nvidia executives dump $1 billion in stock amid AI boom: What do they know that we don’t?

Nvidia is riding high on the AI wave, and its stock is on fire. The AI chipmaker has surged over 17% this year and regained its spot as the most valuable company on the planet, leapfrogging Microsoft and Apple. But behind the scenes, something curious is happening: Nvidia insiders are cashing out, and some of its top executives seem to be heading for the exits.

According to a report from the Financial Times, company executives have sold more than $1 billion worth of stock over the last year. About $500 million of that came just in the past month, even as Nvidia’s market cap climbed to record highs.

“Nvidia insiders have sold more than $1bn of the company’s stock over the past 12 months including a recent surge in trading as they cash in on investors’ enthusiasm for artificial intelligence,” the Financial Times reported.

Insiders Are Cashing Out of Nvidia—Should You Be Worried?

The timing is hard to ignore. Shares have rallied over 44% in the last three months alone, fueled by unrelenting hype around AI. But securities filings show that CEO Jensen Huang, the public face of Nvidia’s AI dominance, sold off around $15 million worth of shares recently. This is part of a larger plan to offload 6 million shares by year’s end, worth more than $900 million in total.

Huang’s current net worth sits around $138 billion, placing him 11th on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Last year, he sold more than $700 million in Nvidia shares.

To the average investor, this might not seem unusual. Founders and executives often cash out as part of prearranged trading plans. But the scale and timing of these sales is raising eyebrows.

The FT report cited data from VerityData, which flagged a surge in insider sales after Nvidia stock crossed $150 per share. The move coincided with an upbeat annual shareholder meeting, where Huang called robotics the company’s “next big thing” after AI.

But there’s more going on behind the curtain.

Over the past three months, Nvidia has shed more than $1.15 trillion in market value. On January 24, the company peaked at a $3.49 trillion valuation. Days later, it lost $600 billion in under two hours after the surprise breakout of Chinese open-source rival DeepSeek sparked fresh doubts about the sustainability of AI chip demand.

Then came the bigger blow—China.

In April, the U.S. government introduced new export restrictions, effectively cutting off Nvidia from one of its most lucrative markets. The company was forced to halt shipments of its high-end H20 AI chips to China and other affected regions. Nvidia lost $1.15 trillion in 3 months as China tensions rattle Wall Street. The chip giant said it expects a $5.5 billion revenue hit during the quarter because of it.

Investors didn’t take the news lightly. Shares dropped 6% in after-hours trading, followed by another 5.8% decline the next day, closing at $95.60. The company’s market cap now sits around $2.34 trillion.

That’s not the backdrop you’d expect for an insider stock bonanza. Yet according to VerityData, which tracks such moves, the jump above $150 per share triggered a wave of selling across Nvidia’s leadership.

The company declined to comment on the report.

Insider selling doesn’t always signal trouble. But when it happens at scale—right as the market is wobbling and geopolitical headwinds are picking up—it’s hard not to ask the obvious question: Are they seeing something the rest of us aren’t?