This underdog stock may deliver Nvidia-level performance in 2026

Supermicro stock (NASDAQ: SMCI) has been an underdog in the server market for a long time.But, with the recent boom in the artificial intelligence space, SMCI has shifted into the heart of the AI supply chain, and if everything goes as expected, the company can generate Nvidia-level performance in 2026.Trading in the mid-$30s after retreating from earlier highs, the company’s valuation leaves significant room for expansion if execution delivers.SMCI stock: Commodity servers to high-margin GPU platformsSupermicro’s transformation into an AI powerhouse is unmistakable.AI GPU platforms now represent over 70% of the company’s revenue, a seismic shift from the commodity server days.The company just began shipping new liquid-cooled NVIDIA HGX B300 systems in both 4U and 2-OU (OCP) configurations, with the 2-OU design scaling to 144 GPUs per rack using direct liquid cooling that captures nearly 98% of system heat.These aren’t incremental upgrades as they are the backbone systems hyperscalers and AI factories need for massive Blackwell GPU deployments.CEO Charles Liang emphasized that Supermicro “now offers the industry’s most compact NVIDIA B300, achieving up to 144 GPUs in a single rack while reducing power and cooling through our direct liquid cooling technology.”The Data Center Building Block Solutions (DCBBS) represent an entirely new go-to-market strategy, which is pre-validated, plug-and-play racks that eliminate deployment delays.This shift from component supplier to full-stack solution provider commands better margins and stronger customer lock-in than traditional server sales.Moreover, the SMCI is also flexing its production muscles with a target of 6,000 racks per month by 2026.It also includes 3,000 direct liquid cooling racks, with facilities capable of supporting densities up to 150kW per rack.Catalyst pipeline and valuation snapshotThe bull case gains further traction with the management lifting fiscal 2026 revenue guidance to at least $36 billion, from $33 billion, signaling confidence.For context, that implies roughly 65% year-over-year growth and would represent a decisive step toward the $40 billion-plus range.The near-term catalyst list is substantial, including shipment cadence for liquid-cooled HGX B300 systems ramping in Q4 and Q1, large customers entering volume production phases, and margin recovery as Blackwell systems mature.The company expects to ship at least $10.5 billion in the December quarter alone.Yet margin compression remains the cloud overhead.Current gross margins sit around 9.5% to 9.6%, well below historical norms and Supermicro’s broader industry peers like Dell and HPE.A significant design win with a large customer in Q1 2026 specifically carried “higher cost and lower margin” profiles to ramp new mega-scale platforms.If Supermicro cannot improve profitability as deployments scale and manufacturing utilization rises, even strong revenue growth won’t translate into the upside investors are pricing in.Delivery delays, competitive pressure on pricing, or customer inventory adjustments could also derail momentum.This is not investment advice. The thesis is high-conviction but speculative: SMCI’s upside depends on continued AI GPU demand, competitive dynamics, supply chain stability, and margin recovery. The post This underdog stock may deliver Nvidia-level performance in 2026 appeared first on Invezz