Nvidia delivers another quarter of stellar growth
Artificial intelligence chip maker Nvidia has announced another astounding growth as investors try to figure out whether the technology’s latest craze is overblown hype or a springboard to a new era of prosperity and productivity.
Results for the November-January period fell short of analyst forecasts shaping investors’ perceptions, just as they have since three years ago when Nvidia’s high-end chips emerged as the best building blocks for artificial intelligence.
Nvidia’s fourth fiscal quarter was up 73 percent from the previous year to $68.1 billion ($95.7 billion), while its profits nearly doubled to nearly $43 billion ($60 billion), or $1.76 ($2.47) per share.
While the Santa Clara, California-based company also offered a forecast that exceeded analyst estimates, CEO Jensen Huang emphasized that demand for the company’s chips was still “growing rapidly.”
This statement feeds into Huang’s thesis that the artificial intelligence boom is still in the early stages of a development that will reshape society.
If Nvidia hits its revenue target for the February-April period, that would translate into a 77 percent increase over last year; This indicates that the company’s already extraordinary growth is still accelerating.
Nvidia’s stock price rose more than two percent in extended trading after the report was released.
The chipmaker has often beaten the bar set by analysts by a wide margin over the past three years, but that hasn’t always been enough to satisfy investors who have become increasingly skeptical about whether artificial intelligence can live up to all the hype surrounding the technology.
After Nvidia showed stellar performance in its latest quarterly report, far exceeding analyst estimates, its stock price still fell three percent in the next day’s trading.
AI enthusiasm has picked up again last month, with four companies leading AI efforts – Amazon, Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet and Facebook parent Meta Platforms – collectively committing to spend around US$650bn ($A914bn) in 2026, boosting their AI computing power.
As Nvidia’s annual revenue rises from $27 billion ($38 billion) to $216 billion ($304 billion), a significant amount of the money is expected to be earmarked for purchasing more Nvidia chips needed to power AI factories, as it has been for most of the past three years.
Analysts expect the chipmaker’s revenue to exceed US$330 billion ($A464 billion) in the company’s next financial year.
“Our customers are racing to invest in AI computing, the factories that power the AI industrial revolution and their future growth,” Huang said.
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