TLDR
- MRVL is up 55% year-to-date and 168% over the past year, driven by AI data center demand.
- Nvidia invested $2 billion in Marvell via private placement on March 31, forming a strategic partnership around NVLink Fusion.
- Marvell completed a $540 million acquisition of XConn Technologies and paid $1 billion for Celestial AI to bolster AI interconnect R&D.
- Custom silicon revenue hit $1.5 billion in Fiscal 2026, with management targeting 25%+ of total data center revenue.
- Data center networking revenue is guided to double to over $600 million in Fiscal 2027.
Marvell Technology has had a remarkable run in 2025 and into 2026. The stock is up more than 55% year-to-date and 168% over the past twelve months. In April alone, MRVL surged more than 50%.
Marvell Technology, Inc., MRVL
That kind of move doesn’t happen by accident. A string of concrete developments has pushed the stock higher.
On March 31, Nvidia invested $2 billion in Marvell through a private placement. The two companies then entered a strategic partnership to scale Nvidia’s NVLink Fusion platform and develop semi-custom AI infrastructure together. This positions Marvell as a key design partner inside Nvidia’s ecosystem.
Oppenheimer raised its price target on MRVL to $170 following the deal. Barclays went further, upgrading the stock to Overweight from Equal Weight and lifting its target to $150 from $105, citing strength in Marvell’s optical and ports businesses.
Jim Cramer also weighed in, calling Marvell one of those data center names that “was good and then became unbelievable.” He pointed to CEO Matt Murphy’s early stock purchases near $70 and the company’s low-cost acquisition of an optical business as smart moves that paid off.
Custom Silicon Is Driving Real Revenue
Hyperscalers are shifting away from general-purpose GPUs toward custom silicon for AI inference workloads. Marvell is one of the cleaner plays on that trend.
In Fiscal 2026, which ended January 2026, the company reported $1.5 billion in custom silicon revenue. Management has guided for that segment to represent at least 25% of total data center revenue going forward. Marvell claims that custom silicon offers a 40%-plus cost-of-ownership advantage over standard GPUs, which explains the accelerating demand.
The company already holds custom accelerator design wins with all major cloud providers. Marvell’s own forecast is that unit shipments of custom accelerators will exceed GPU shipments by 2028.
To support further development, Marvell completed a $1 billion cash payment for Celestial AI, focused on AI interconnect research.
Networking Revenue Set to Double
Marvell’s data center networking business is also growing fast. Revenue from that segment exceeded $300 million in Fiscal 2026. Management has guided for it to surpass $600 million in Fiscal 2027.
The $540 million acquisition of XConn Technologies, completed earlier this year, is a key driver. Through its Structera S 60260 switches, Marvell now offers twice the lane density of competing products.
The company is also seeing strong demand in the retimers market, where its Alaska PCIe retimers are widely used in hyperscaler server racks. Management guided retimers and active electrical cables revenue to double in Fiscal 2027.
The average Wall Street price target across 27 analysts currently sits at $126.12, which implies a roughly 9.7% downside from the current market price.
The Nvidia investment will help fund R&D at the 3nm and 5nm node level, which is where Marvell’s next generation of custom silicon products will be built.
???? Our April Stock Picks Are Live!
A new month means new opportunities. Our analysts have just released their top stock picks for April, highlighting companies with strong momentum that rank highly on our KO Score algorithm. We’re also now sharing trade ideas for both long-term and short-term investors, giving you more ways to spot potential opportunities in the market.
Sign up to Knockout Stocks today and get 50% off to unlock the full list and see which stocks made the cut.
Use coupon code Special50 for your exclusive discount!
