Nvidia announced record quarterly financial results, driven by sustained global demand for artificial intelligence computing resources. The semiconductor designer reported revenue of $68 billion for the quarter, a 73 percent increase compared to the same period in the previous year. The vast majority of this income originated from the company’s data center division, which generated $62 billion. Within that segment, compute revenue reached $51 billion, primarily consisting of GPU sales, while networking products, such as NVLink technology, contributed $11 billion. For the complete fiscal year, Nvidia’s total revenue settled at $215 billion.
Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang characterized the current market dynamics as a fundamental shift in computing demand. “The demand for tokens in the world has gone completely exponential,” Huang stated during a conference call with analysts. He noted that the surge in AI workload consumption is affecting hardware across the company’s installed base, adding, “I think we’re all seeing that, to the point where even our six-year-old GPUs in the cloud are completely consumed and the pricing is going up.” This pricing pressure reflects the scarcity of available compute capacity relative to the rapidly expanding need for AI inference and training.
Despite the recent modification of trade regulations by the U.S. government, Nvidia recorded zero revenue from chip exports to China during the reporting period. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress provided details on the compliance situation, stating, “While small amounts of H200 products for China-based customers were approved by the U.S. government, they have yet to generate any revenue, and we do not know whether any imports will be allowed into China.” Kress also highlighted the evolving competitive landscape within the region, pointing to local entities that are receiving significant financial backing.
Kress further warned of the long-term strategic risks posed by domestic Chinese competitors. She indicated that these rivals are “making progress” and possess the potential to “disrupt the structure of the global AI industry over the long term.” Her comments appeared to reference the recent market activity of companies like Moore Threads, which executed an initial public offering in December. While currently restricted by export controls, the maturation of these domestic Chinese chip manufacturers represents a potential future challenge to Nvidia’s dominance in the region.
Regarding future strategic investments, Jensen Huang provided an update on the company’s discussions with OpenAI. Huang expressed optimism about the ongoing negotiations, noting, “We continue to work with OpenAI toward a partnership agreement. We believe we are close.” He indicated the potential scale of the deal could reach approximately $30 billion. In addition to OpenAI, Huang referenced ongoing collaborations with other major AI developers, including Anthropic, Meta, and xAI. However, Nvidia included a standard disclaimer in filings submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, emphasizing that there is “no assurance” that a final investment agreement will be reached.
Addressing widespread skepticism regarding the massive capital expenditure commitments made by major technology firms, Huang defended the economic viability of the current AI infrastructure build-out. He argued that the industry has moved beyond experimental phases into a period of tangible financial return. “In this new world of AI, compute is revenue,” Huang explained. “Without compute, there’s no way to generate tokens. Without tokens, there’s no way to grow revenues.” He concluded that the sector has reached an inflection point where token generation is both productive for end-users and profitable for cloud service providers.
