Nvidia reported record quarterly revenue Wednesday on the back of the explosion in corporate appetite for artificial intelligence.
“The next industrial revolution has begun – companies and countries are partnering with Nvidia … to produce a new commodity: artificial intelligence,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia.
The company brought in $26bn in revenue in the first quarter of fiscal year 2025, up 18% from Q4 and up 262% from a year ago. Net profit was $14.88bn, up from $2bn a year before.
The AI chip maker, whose fortunes are interpreted as a bellwether for the AI transformation under way, reported earnings per share were $5.98, up 21% from the previous quarter and up 629% from a year ago. Investors had expected revenue of $24.65bn and earnings per share of $5.59, according to CNBC. The company also announced it would split its stock, currently trading at $962, 10-for-one on 7 June.
Investors had been anticipating another blockbuster set of financial results, but they also wanted to see that spending by big tech on Nvidia’s chips was as impressive as they anticipated. And it was.
“Nvidia defies gravity again as AI companies globally continue to depend on its chips, networking hardware and its software ecosystem,” said eMarketer analyst Jacob Bourne.
Bourne said the tech giants’ public praise of Nvidia was “a telltale sign of its dominance”, and that they want to reduce their dependence on the company “but realize they’re not quite there yet”.
Tech giants Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft have all signaled they plan to spend $200bn this year on chips and data centers needed to train and operate their AI systems. Apple has said it will announce its AI strategy next month. Nvidia is seen as the leading provider of chips best-suited to powering AI.
The company has gained more than $1.1tn in value this year alone. At the end of 2022, Nvidia was worth $359bn. Now, halfway through 2024, it’s worth $2.33tn. That’s only $500bn less than Apple and $900bn less than Microsoft, the two most valuable companies based in the US.
The chipmaker’s earnings announcement “has become one of the most important events on the macro calendar”, according to Deutsche Bank strategist Henry Allen.
Analysts are warning that no stock goes in a straight line up forever. Nvidia’s price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is at a massive 79.95-to-one. For contrast, Microsoft is at 36, and Apple 29. But Nvidia is also making nearly $0.50 on every dollar in sales in bottom-line net income.
Can it keep up with demand? Nvidia’s chips are now so hotly desired they’re delivered by armored car. On Tuesday, its stock dropped 5% after Amazon, a major customer, told the Financial Times it was waiting on orders for Nvidia’s new superchip, Blackwell.
There’s also the question of China. In line with the Biden administration’s crackdown on Chinese-made electric vehicles, the administration has denied the company from selling its highest-end semiconductors in China.
Dan Ives at Wedbush Securities says that investors will be listening closely to AI “godfather” Jensen when he speaks after the results are reported. “The AI revolution starts with Nvidia, and in our view, the AI party is just getting started with the popcorn getting ready,” he says.