Nvidia Posts Record $68 Billion Quarter as AI Chip Demand Defies Skept

When Nvidia reported its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday, the numbers were staggering even by the company’s own extraordinary standards. Revenue surged 73% year-over-year to $68.1 billion. Profit nearly doubled to roughly $43 billion. And yet, in the strange calculus that governs Wall Street’s hottest stock, the market’s initial enthusiasm gave way to familiar anxiety.

“No quarter has had more riding on it than this one. The AI trade needed some positive news and Nvidia’s earnings report brought plenty of it.” — Jake Behan, head of capital markets, Direxion

The Numbers Behind the Narrative

The Santa Clara-based chipmaker has become the bellwether for the entire artificial intelligence economy. Its high-end GPUs, originally designed for gaming graphics, have proven to be the most efficient engines for training and running large AI models. That accidental positioning has transformed Nvidia from a niche semiconductor company into a $4.8 trillion juggernaut.

For the November-January period, Nvidia cleared analyst projections that have become almost comically conservative. The company earned $1.76 per share on revenue that beat expectations of $66.2 billion. More importantly, Nvidia projected first-quarter sales of approximately $78 billion, topping analyst estimates of $72.6 billion and signaling that growth is actually accelerating.

CFO Colette Kress added a detail that caught investors’ attention: the company has secured sufficient chip inventory and manufacturing capacity to meet demand for several quarters. That assurance addresses persistent concerns that bottlenecks at key foundry partner TSMC could constrain Nvidia’s ability to capitalize on the AI boom.

“AI Is Here, AI Is Not Going to Go Back”

During the earnings call, CEO Jensen Huang delivered a characteristically bullish assessment of AI’s trajectory. Markets are misjudging the impact of artificial intelligence on software companies, he argued, suggesting that AI will strengthen rather than destroy leading platforms. Top software providers, Huang predicted, will use AI agents to optimize workflows around their existing tools.

“AI is here, AI is not going to go back. AI is only going to only get better from here.” — Jensen Huang, CEO, Nvidia

Huang’s thesis—that the AI boom is still in the early stages of a buildout that will reshape society—has driven Nvidia’s market value from $400 billion at the end of 2022 to nearly $4.8 trillion today. If the company hits its revenue target for the February-April period, it will translate into a 77% increase from last year.

The $650 Billion Question

Behind Nvidia’s numbers lies an even larger figure: the roughly $650 billion that Amazon, Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet, and Meta Platforms have collectively committed to spend this year on AI computing infrastructure. A significant portion of that capital expenditure is expected to flow to Nvidia for the chips required to power their AI ambitions.

The competitive landscape is shifting, however. Rival AMD plans to launch a new flagship AI server later this year and has secured deals with major customers. More significantly, Big Tech firms—most notably Google—are increasingly designing and deploying in-house AI chips. These custom silicon efforts represent longer-term risks to Nvidia’s dominance even as near-term demand remains resilient.

Software disruption fears also linger. As AI agents become more capable, some investors worry that traditional software business models could be undermined. Huang pushed back against that narrative, arguing that established platforms will integrate AI to enhance rather than replace their offerings.

What Comes Next

Despite the stellar results, Nvidia’s stock price tells a more complicated story. After initially rising 4% in extended trading following the earnings release, shares backtracked and were slightly down following Huang’s upbeat conference call. The pattern has become familiar: even when Nvidia dramatically exceeds expectations, the bar for satisfaction keeps rising.

The skepticism reflects broader questions about whether AI will justify the trillions of dollars being spent to develop the technology. Nvidia’s annual revenue has soared from $27 billion to $216 billion in just three years. Analysts now expect it to surpass $330 billion in the next fiscal year—a more than 50% increase.

For now, the data centers keep getting built, the chips keep getting ordered, and the AI models keep getting larger. Whether that trajectory can continue indefinitely remains the defining question of this technology cycle. But on Wednesday, Nvidia provided its answer: the boom isn’t over. It may not have even reached its midpoint.

This article was reported by the ArtificialDaily editorial team. For more information, visit NVIDIA Newsroom and CNBC.