Software-related stocks posted broad gains on Monday after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang publicly downplayed fears that rising AI capabilities will displace traditional software companies.
Among the heaviest movers, ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) climbed 10% and IBM (NYSE:IBM) jumped 12%, leading sector advances. Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) was up 6.5%, Atlassian (NASDAQ:TEAM) gained 6.6%, and HubSpot (NYSE:HUBS) rose 6%. Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) and Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) each increased about 5%, Veeva Systems (NYSE:VEEV) added 4% and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) advanced 4%. Palantir (NYSE:PLTR) gained 3% while Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) rose 2%. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF - IGV - climbed 4.7%.
The move came after Huang's keynote at the Computex trade show in Taipei, where he addressed a growing industry discussion about whether AI agents could supplant conventional software applications. In his remarks he rejected that premise.
"This is actually an incredible time to be a software company," Huang said. "A lot of people have said, Jensen, agentic AI is coming, therefore all of the software companies are going out of business. I said: itxactly the opposite. Because there are going to be so many agents, the world is no longer limited by the number of people. Therefore, those agents are going to use more tools than ever."
Huang's comments intersected with a broader market debate over the role of AI agents and how they might change demand for existing application software. The CEO framed the proliferation of AI agents as a potential tailwind for the software industry, suggesting that agents will expand use of tools rather than displace them.
The gains on Monday spanned enterprise software, cybersecurity and cloud computing names, reflecting investor optimism about how these subsectors might be positioned in an AI-influenced environment. The rally included sizable moves in a number of large-cap and mid-cap software-related companies and was broad enough to lift an ETF focused on the expanded tech-software sector.
Market snapshot of notable moves (as reported):
- ServiceNow (NOW): +10%
- IBM (IBM): +12%
- Salesforce (CRM): +6.5%
- Atlassian (TEAM): +6.6%
- HubSpot (HUBS): +6%
- Adobe (ADBE): +5%
- Workday (WDAY): +5%
- Veeva Systems (VEEV): +4%
- Microsoft (MSFT): +4%
- Palantir (PLTR): +3%
- Palo Alto Networks (PANW): +2%
- iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV): +4.7%
Observers noted the breadth of the rally, which covered enterprise applications, cybersecurity vendors and cloud-oriented platforms. The reaction in equities followed closely on Huang's public assurance that a surge in AI agents will generate increased use of software tools.
At the same time, the exchange-traded fund and multiple headline names saw substantial single-session advances, illustrating how a prominent industry figure's framing of AI's impact can move market sentiment across related sectors.
Summary takeaways
- Comments by Nvidia's CEO that AI agents will expand tool usage triggered broad gains across software, cybersecurity and cloud stocks.
- Several large-cap software names posted double-digit or high-single-digit percentage gains in the session.
- The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF also rose sharply, reflecting sector-wide optimism.