AI giant Nvidia (NVDA) reported second-quarter earnings after the market closed on Wednesday, beating expectations for revenue, profit and earnings, and also beating its expected guidance for the coming quarter.
For the quarter, the company reported earnings per share of $0.68 on revenue of $30 billion. Analysts had expected earnings per share of $0.64 and revenue of $28.8 billion. That’s a huge jump from the same period last year, when Nvidia saw earnings per share of $0.27 and revenue of $13.5 billion.
The company also gave a revenue forecast of $32.5 billion for the third quarter, plus or minus 2%, while analysts were expecting $31.9 billion.
In a statement, CEO Jensen Huang said expectations for the company’s next-generation Blackwell chip are “incredible.”
The chip giant’s shares fell 6% immediately after the announcement.
The bulk of that revenue came from Nvidia’s all-important data center business, which brought in $26.3 billion in the quarter, compared with Wall Street expectations of $25 billion in revenue. That’s up 154% from the year-ago period, when the segment brought in $10.3 billion.
According to Reuters, Nvidia is the global leader in AI chip design and software, with 80% to 95% of the market share.
Nvidia expects Blackwell to generate billions of dollars in revenue in the fourth quarter, according to CFO Colette Kress.
Nvidia’s rivals aren’t resting on their laurels. Earlier this month, AMD announced it was acquiring ZT Systems in a deal valued at $4.9 billion. The move gives AMD more firepower to build AI system servers, something that’s been a major catalyst for Nvidia’s own sales.
And while it may give AMD a sales boost, it doesn’t mean Nvidia won’t face any major threats to its position as AI king anytime soon.
“There are emerging competitors like AMD that are starting to take a little bit of market share,” Ruben Roy, managing director of Stifel, told Yahoo Finance on Monday. “But if you look at the overall infrastructure spending cycle … which we think will continue to accelerate, Nvidia seems to us to be best positioned to take advantage of [spending].”
Nvidia’s gaming division, previously the company’s breadwinner, saw revenue grow to $2.8 billion, up 16% year-over-year.
Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.
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