Nvidia Hits $81B Quarterly Revenue as AI Boom Keeps Breaking Records
The AI boom continues to drive extraordinary growth at Nvidia. In the past quarter, the chip giant generated $81.6 billion in revenue, a year-over-year increase of 85 percent. Net profit came in at $58.3 billion — more than three times the figure from a year earlier. Once again, the results exceeded analyst forecasts.
For the current quarter, Nvidia is projecting revenue of around $91 billion, which would represent yet another growth rate close to the 100-percent mark. Despite this, markets reacted with little enthusiasm after the figures were released: the stock came under pressure in after-hours trading. Market observers attribute this to investors now setting even higher expectations for Nvidia.
The company has become the most valuable publicly listed company in the world. Its market capitalization currently stands at around $5.5 trillion, surpassing Google parent Alphabet. Since the start of the year, the stock has gained significantly, and over a multi-year horizon Nvidia ranks among the biggest winners in the tech industry. The company also announced a new share buyback program worth $80 billion, alongside a substantial increase in its dividend.
Huang: AI Infrastructure Growing at Enormous Pace
CEO Jensen Huang sees the global expansion of AI systems as only just beginning. The buildout of “AI factories” is proceeding at a speed rarely seen before, Huang stated. Nvidia holds a “unique position at the center of this transformation” because the company’s technology is deployed across all major cloud platforms, supports a wide variety of AI models, and is scalable wherever AI applications emerge.
Nvidia also anticipates very strong demand for its upcoming chip generation, “Vera Rubin”. According to Huang, supply of these systems could remain constrained for an extended period. First customer shipments are scheduled for the second half of the year. Beyond AI data centers, Nvidia is increasingly targeting new business areas. The company aims to benefit more from robotics and its own processors going forward, with CPU revenue targeted at around $20 billion for this year.
Big Tech Continues to Drive the AI Market
Major technology companies such as Google, Amazon, and Meta are currently investing billions in AI infrastructure. These rising expenditures are often accompanied by cost-cutting measures and layoffs in other parts of their businesses (more on that here).
Despite its dominant position, Nvidia is facing growing competition. In addition to traditional chip companies, several of its largest customers are now developing their own AI processors to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Google and Amazon are even looking to offer their in-house chips to external customers.
China Remains a Source of Uncertainty
China continues to be a concern for Nvidia. In the past quarter, the company generated no revenue from AI chips in that market, after recording billions in sales there the previous year.
While the US government has once again permitted the sale of certain Nvidia chips to China, it has done so under strict conditions. At the same time, the Chinese government is pushing domestic companies to rely more heavily on national suppliers. For Nvidia, the Chinese market therefore remains difficult to predict, both politically and economically.
