The NVIDIA logo is displayed on a mobile phone screen in this photo illustration in Brussels, Belgium, on February 23, 2026. Photo: Jonathan Raa / NurPhoto via AFP
Nvidia has reported blockbuster quarterly results that blew past Wall Street expectations, posting record revenue of $US68.1 billion (NZD$113b) as insatiable demand for its artificial intelligence chips showed no sign of cooling.
The figures - up 73 percent from a year ago and well above the $65.7b analysts had forecast - sent a powerful signal that the technology buildout dominated by Nvidia that underpins the global AI boom remains in full swing.
Net income for the quarter more than doubled year-on-year to $42.96b; the earnings release sent shares surging 5 percent in after-hours trading.
Nvidia designs the graphics processing units (GPUs) that have become the backbone of the global artificial intelligence boom.
Founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang, who remains CEO, the Santa Clara, California-based company commands a market capitalisation exceeding $4.7 trillion, making it the world's most valuable publicly traded company.
Combined capital expenditure from the four major AI builders - Google, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft - could approach $700b this year as the tech giants race to stay ahead in the crucial technology.
A large share of that spending lands at Nvidia, which remains the dominant supplier of the AI chips and technology used to train and deliver generative AI capability.
Huang said Nvidia's success was being driven by a new phase in AI, in which AI agents that take decisions in place of humans are playing an increasingly important role.
"Computing demand is growing exponentially - the agentic AI inflection point has arrived," Huang said in a statement.
"Enterprise adoption of agents is skyrocketing," he added.
The company's data centre division, which sells the high-powered chips used to train and run AI models, was once again the engine of growth.
Revenue from that segment hit a record $62.3b in the quarter, up 75 percent from a year earlier and up 22 percent from the prior quarter.
For the full fiscal year ending 25 January 2026, Nvidia reported revenue of $215.9b, up 65 percent from the previous year, with data centre revenue reaching $193.7b - a 68 percent annual gain.
Perhaps more significant for investors was Nvidia's guidance for the current quarter.
The company said it is not assuming any data centre compute revenue from China in its outlook, an acknowledgement of the ongoing impact of US export controls on its ability to sell advanced chips to the world's second-largest economy.
The company forecast the current quarter's revenue at $78b, plus or minus two percent - comfortably above the roughly $72b Wall Street had been expecting, and a figure that analysts said would go a long way toward silencing doubts about the durability of AI infrastructure spending.
Considered a main bellwether for the AI phenomenon, the recurring question for Nvidia is whether the boom will continue to accelerate as the technology takes over more corners of the broader economy.
Despite increased volatility around AI on Wall Street, Nvidia shares are up by more than 50 percent over the past year, though just 2.2 percent year to date, before the latest earnings.
- AFP
