Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Nvidia’s revenue more than doubled in the past quarter, continuing the US chipmaker’s run of blockbuster growth and surpassing consensus estimates.
Revenue in the three months through July was $30bn, up 122 per cent from a year ago. Analysts had expected $28.7bn. Nvidia is expecting $32.5bn in revenue for the current quarter, plus or minus 2 per cent, at the midpoint of analysts’ consensus expectations.
Some investors had been looking for an even bigger forecast in the run-up to Wednesday’s report. Shares fell about 3 per cent in after-hours trading immediately after the release despite the strong earnings.
Nvidia also authorised another $50bn in share buybacks.
The hotly anticipated earnings report has been watched by investors for signs of how the artificial intelligence boom that has gripped the tech sector is faring.
While the year-on-year growth represented another record for Nvidia, it was far less than the 262 per cent revenue growth it reported in the prior quarter. Earnings per share were 68 cents, versus estimates for 65 cents. Its gross margin hit 75.1 per cent, compared with analysts’ expectations for 75.5 per cent.
Nvidia has taken on an outsized importance in US stock markets, after a blistering rally pushed its shares up about 160 per cent in the year to date, giving it a market capitalisation of $3tn. Its growth has driven more than a quarter of the year-to-date gains on the S&P 500.
Investors have been braced for volatility around earnings, with options markets earlier this week pricing in a potential swing of 10 per cent in either direction for the stock.
The latest quarterly results from Google, Microsoft, Meta and Amazon have shown the size of Big Tech’s spending spree to build the infrastructure to train and run AI models. They are also among Nvidia’s biggest customers, and the earnings report was expected to offer a temperature check on the broader mood around AI.
One potential hurdle has emerged to Nvidia’s growth: a delay to its next generation of chips, known as Blackwell. Chief executive Jensen Huang had previously said Blackwell would generate “a lot” of revenue for the company.
Huang said in a statement on Wednesday that demand for its current-generation Hopper chips “remains strong”.
In prepared remarks, Nvidia’s finance chief, Colette Kress, said that the company had made changes to how Blackwell was produced to improve manufacturing yield, adding: “Blackwell production ramp is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter and continue into fiscal 2026. In the fourth quarter, we expect to ship several billion dollars in Blackwell revenue.”
