Nvidia ( NVDA ) reported expectations after the bell for its third quarter on Wednesday about the strength of sales of its powerful AI chips, which are driving what CEO Jensen Huang called the “Age of AI.”
Nvidia, the world’s largest publicly traded company by market capitalization, reported earnings per share (EPS) of $0.81 on revenue of $35.1 billion. Analysts had expected earnings per share of $0.74 on revenue of $33.2 billion.
Nvidia also said it expects revenue of $37.5 billion, plus or minus 2%. That’s slightly more than Wall Street expectations of $37 billion.
Nvidia’s stock price fell about 1% after the news.
“The age of AI is in full force, driving a global shift to Nvidia computing,” CEO Jensen Huang said in a statement. “Demand for Hopper and anticipation for Blackwell – in full production – are incredible as basic model makers scale up pre-training, post-training and inference.”
The chip giant’s data center business, which makes up the vast majority of revenue, brought in $30.8 billion this quarter, surpassing analyst expectations of $29 billion. The segment generated $14.5 billion in the third quarter last year.
Nvidia’s gaming revenue came in at $3.3 billion, up from the $2.8 billion the division brought in last year. Analysts expected $3 billion.
Nvidia shares have continued to rise in 2024, thanks to the explosive growth of AI across the technology landscape and beyond.
Nvidia also appeared to allay concerns about possible delays in the availability of its next-generation Blackwell chip, with CFO Colette Kress saying the AI GPU will hit the market in the current quarter and be deployed over the next year.
“Both Hopper and Blackwell systems have certain supply constraints, and demand for Blackwell is expected to exceed supply for several quarters in fiscal 2026,” she added.
Nvidia shares rose 192% year to date from Wednesday, easily outpacing the company’s chipmaker rivals. AMD (AMD), its closest competitor, has seen its share price fall more than 5% year to date, while Intel (INTC), which is facing a difficult turnaround, has seen its shares plummet almost 52%.
Nvidia faces an uncertain future as Donald Trump has threatened to impose blanket tariffs on products from around the world.
Furthermore, the president-elect has stoked the specter of tariffs on Taiwanese chips. That would be a potential alternative to the CHIPS Act, which is intended to bring semiconductor production back to the US.
The vast majority of Nvidia’s chips are built by TSMC in Taiwan. A tariff could mean Nvidia will charge more for its AI chips, lowering margins, or the extra costs will be passed on to its customers. Investors will certainly be looking for advice that Huang has to offer on this topic.
