Nvidia (NVDA) reported another blockbuster quarter on Wednesday, as demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure pushed revenue, profits and cash flow to record levels.
FactSet data showed that the chipmaker’s first-quarter revenue was US$81.62 billion, an increase of 85% from US$44.06 billion in the same period last year and higher than Wall Street’s expectations of US$78.9 billion. Adjusted earnings per share were $1.87, beating analysts’ expectations of $1.76 per share. The company also gave stronger-than-expected guidance for the current quarter, with revenue expected to be about $91 billion.
At the same time, the company also took action to return more cash to shareholders. Nvidia’s board of directors approved an additional $80 billion in stock repurchases and raised its quarterly dividend to 25 cents per share from the previous 1 cent per share.
However, despite the strong results, positive outlook and strong shareholder returns, the stock was still down about 1.5% at press time. As competition for AI chips continues to intensify, investors will likely be watching beyond this quarter and focusing on potential challenges to Nvidia’s growth opportunities.
Bitcoin miners involved in artificial intelligence and high-performance computing infrastructure traded slightly higher after Nvidia reported earnings. Shares of Core Scientific (CORZ) and Cipher Mining (CIFR) both edged higher in after-hours trading as investors continue to view some miners as potential beneficiaries of growing demand for data centers, power capacity and artificial intelligence computing infrastructure. IREN (IREN) initially rose but is now down about one percent.
“The construction of AI factories—the largest infrastructure expansion in human history—is accelerating at an alarming rate,” CEO Jen-Hsun Huang said in a statement. “Agent AI is here to do productive work, generate real value, and scale rapidly across companies and industries,” he added.
Data center growth
Particularly for Bitcoin miners moving into the data center business, there was some positive news in the chipmaker’s earnings.
Nvidia’s data center business continues to drive growth as cloud providers, enterprises and governments expand spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure powered by the company’s chips.
Nvidia Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress said on the company’s earnings call that more than half of Nvidia’s $75 billion in data center revenue this quarter came from hyperscale enterprises, reaching about $38 billion, a 12% increase from the previous quarter.
The remaining $37 billion comes from the part of Nvidia now called ACIE, which includes AI cloud providers, industrial customers and the enterprise market. Kress said that AI cloud revenue more than tripled year-over-year as Nvidia helped more than 80 data centers rapidly expand AI computing capabilities to more than 10 megawatts of capacity.
Spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure continues to accelerate, and demand for Nvidia computing systems remains strong, Kress added. She also said that Nvidia expects CPU revenue to reach $20 billion this year.
Nvidia said its outlook did not assume any data center computing revenue from China, where U.S. export restrictions have limited sales of advanced artificial intelligence chips.
Investors are keeping a close eye on Nvidia’s earnings for signs that spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure remains strong, despite growing questions about how quickly the company can turn those investments into profits.
Nvidia’s results so far suggest demand continues to exceed expectations, which could be a boon for data center providers.