U.S. technology stocks steadied Monday and Nvidia disclosed a 9.3 percent stake in Amsterdam-based Nebius on Tuesday, sending shares of the AI-infrastructure firm up 7 percent in premarket trading and giving the artificial-intelligence trade a floor after last week's global rout. But the two audiences reading the AI tape are pulling in opposite directions: retail investors in their 20s are treating the selloff as a buying opportunity, while CNBC's Jim Cramer told viewers he was not ready to put fresh money into the group.

The split — small investors leaning in, a marquee television bull leaning out — frames the rebound as a test of whether last week's damage will prove a floor or a pause. Nvidia's Nebius disclosure adds a strategic chipmaker still writing checks into the AI buildout, but the professional caution argues for a wider margin of safety before the trade fully resets.

Nvidia's Nebius bet

Nvidia's 9.3 percent holding, disclosed Tuesday, extends a $2 billion investment the chipmaker previously announced in the Dutch company, CNBC reported. Nebius had a market capitalization of $46 billion Tuesday morning, with the stock up nearly 250 percent over the past 12 months. Meta signed a long-term agreement in March to spend up to $27 billion on Nebius' AI infrastructure, and Nebius said last week it had raised $775 million in its first senior secured debt facility, backed by deployed GPU hardware and contracted cash flows. Freedom Capital Markets upgraded the stock to a buy rating Monday, calling the debt raise a "positive catalyst."

Retail keeps buying

Ordinary investors, many in their 20s and early 30s, have continued to treat the pullback as an opportunity, the BBC reported. Michelle Huynh, a 26-year-old who works in sales for an Australian tech firm and holds more than a third of her savings in tech stocks, told the broadcaster her tech holdings had gained A$31,000, or about $21,666, by mid-July before the selloff pared those gains to A$22,000. "Times are so different and investing has become a necessity," Huynh said. Singaporean student Shyan Lim, 24, said a 23,000 Singapore-dollar investment in Intel and Micron in October was now worth about 100,000 Singapore dollars. The Nasdaq is up about 10 percent this year and Japan's Nikkei 225 more than 20 percent, according to figures the broadcaster cited.

Cramer's caution

On CNBC's Monday Morning Meeting, Cramer said he was not ready to put fresh money into technology stocks and told dip buyers to widen the price gaps between purchases. "What I like to do is come up with prices," Cramer said. "You want to do pyramid styles as you build down." Where he might previously have added to an Intel position on a 5 percent decline, he said, the current volatility warrants waiting for a drop closer to 10 percent.

Korean warning

The volatility is starkest in Seoul, where the Kospi hit a record above 9,000 in June before plunging to around 6,500, tripping the circuit breaker seven times this year, according to the BBC. The rally drew an army of retail traders known locally as "ants" and prompted regulators to curb borrowed-money share purchases — the same pattern the James St. Journal detailed Monday in leveraged Korean chip ETFs. eToro analyst Lale Akoner told the BBC that retail investors treat sell-offs as a "test of conviction" but should be aware of "how painful valuation resets can be."

Bears go unheard

Absent from the day's coverage is a named short-seller pressing the case that the AI rally has broken. Cramer's caution and Akoner's warning are the closest sell-side arguments in circulation Tuesday, and both stop well short of calling a top. The rebound has undone some of last week's damage, and Nvidia's Nebius disclosure shows a chipmaker still betting on the buildout. But with the loudest television bull telling subscribers to sit on their hands, the retail conviction that carried the AI trade this far is doing more of the work than it was a week ago.