TAIPEI - Chip giant Nvidia has set a new sales record, a sign that demand for artificial intelligence remains strong despite fearsthe technology may be overhyped.
Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company, reported last Wednesday that revenue of USD 46.74bn for the three months that ended in July, a rise of 56 percent year-on-year. Profit for the quarter was USD 26.42bn, a yearly rise of 59 percent.
Nvidia’s latest earnings report had been hotly anticipated as the tech giant is widely seen as a barometer of the AI boom, which has lifted the US stock market from all-time high to all-time high. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said that production of Blackwell Ultra, Nvidia’s latest platform using its most advanced chips, was ramping up “at full speed” and demand for the company’s products was “extraordinary”.
“The AI race is on, and Blackwell is the platform at its centre,” Jensen said. Looking ahead, the Santa Clara, California-based tech giant predicted revenue of USD 54bn, plus or minus 2 percent, for the July-September quarter, which would be slightly above market expectations. Despite the robust results, Nvidia’s stock price fell more than 3 percent in after-hours trading, an indication of the sky-high expectations attached to the chipmaker, which is valued at more than USD 4.4 trillion.
Nvidia’s sales notably did not include any shipments to China, whose market is subject to US government export controls intended to blunt Beijing’s ability to develop AI. US President Donald Trump’s administration earlier this month lifted a ban on sales of Nvidia’s H20 chip, which was designed specifically for the Chinese market, following concerted lobbying by Huang. As part of its agreement with the Trump administration, Nvidia agreed to pay the US government 15 percent of revenues from chip sales in China.
The lifting of the ban on the H20 raises the possibility that Nvidia could have potentially enormous untapped sales potential in the world’s second-largest economy, though its prospects have been complicated by a recent directive by Beijing urging local firms against doing business with the company. “Just imagine what will happen to this stock if the China business even comes half back to life”, The Kobeissi Letter, a newsletter following capital markets, said. “Jensen Huang will undoubtedly be working overtime on the China situation. The AI Revolution is in full swing.” (Al Jazeera/AFP)
