Nvidia Lifts Buyback Authorization to $235 Billion Through 2028
NVIDIA's board approved another $150 billion for share buybacks, lifting the amount it is still allowed to buy to $235 billion. The disclosure was published on Sept. 28, 2026. Nvidia A buyback, or share repurchase, is when a company buys its own stock back from investors.
That $235 billion is permission, not money already spent. NVIDIA says it expects to use that remaining capacity through fiscal 2028. Reuters Reuters described the $235 billion program as the biggest-ever buyback plan.
Authorization and spending are different. For scale, NVIDIA returned $15.4 billion to shareholders through shares repurchased and cash dividends during the first half of fiscal 2025. Nvidia That comparison shows how much headroom the new authorization creates.
The increase came while large technology companies faced heavy competing demands on cash. As of early September 2026, chief financial officers were spending record amounts on share repurchases despite the AI spending boom. Bloomberg At the level of all companies combined, buybacks had not disappeared.
Behavior among the largest AI spenders was less uniform. Among Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta, only Microsoft bought back shares in the first quarter, according to Bloomberg reporting in June 2026. Bloomberg In earlier February 2026 reporting, Alphabet and Microsoft spent roughly $11 billion on buybacks while Amazon and Meta held off entirely. Bloomberg
Market moves around AI capital spending, the money put into equipment and facilities for AI, have been sensitive to company guidance. Meta Platforms shares slid after the company raised its annual spending outlook to build AI models. More recently, Meta shares dipped 3.3% on Sept. 25, 2026, as Wall Street ended higher lifted by Microsoft and other AI-related technology stocks. Reuters
The broader context here is how companies rank uses of cash in a heavy investment cycle. A multi-year authorization through fiscal 2028 gives NVIDIA timing flexibility. It permits steady offset of dilution from employee stock awards, management of the fully diluted share count used in earnings-per-share math (profit divided by shares), and faster buying into price weakness, without committing to a fixed quarterly pace. For analysts, the key split is between authorization, which creates room to act, and execution, which uses free cash flow (cash left after running the business) alongside capital spending and dividends.
In my view, the peer comparison is where this stands out. Where Amazon and Meta held off entirely in the period covered by February reporting, and where only Microsoft stayed active among the three largest spenders in the first quarter, NVIDIA has added capacity at unprecedented nominal size. That puts focus on two practical questions: whether operating cash flow stays strong enough to fund both AI buildout and distributions, and whether repurchases mainly neutralize dilution or reduce net share count outright. The answers matter for valuation multiples, payout-ratio analysis, and how much balance-sheet flexibility remains if the capital spending cycle extends.
