Nvidia posted another quarter of growth on Wednesday as booming demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips continued to drive sales and profits sharply higher.
Revenue in the latest quarter surged 85% from a year earlier to $81.6 billion, accelerating from the previous quarter. Adjusted operating profit jumped nearly 150% to $53.5 billion, once again beating analysts' expectations, while net income rose to $58.3 billion from about $18.8 billion a year earlier.
The AI chipmaker also forecast revenue of about $91 billion for the current quarter, above the average estimate of analysts. Nvidia has accustomed investors in recent years to results that far exceeded expectations.
Chief executive Jensen Huang said in a conference call with analysts that demand for Nvidia chips remained strong.
He added that the company's next-generation AI processors, known as Vera Rubin, are expected to face ongoing supply constraints, with the first systems due to reach customers in the second half of the year.
CEO: Nvidia to see $20 billion in CPU sales this year
Huang also said Nvidia expects to expand further into areas including robotics technology. While the company has traditionally been known for graphics processors that form the basis of its AI chips, it is also forecasting about $20 billion in revenue this year from central processing units (CPUs).
Nvidia has emerged as one of the biggest beneficiaries of the global AI boom, with its data centre chips powering much of the industry's rapid expansion. The company's market value has increased more than 15-fold over the past five years to about $5.6 trillion, making it the world's most valuable company ahead of Alphabet, which is valued at roughly $4.7 trillion.
Investors initially reacted cautiously to the closely watched results. Nvidia shares fell as much as 3% in after-hours trading immediately following the release before later fluctuating around flat levels.
Questions also remain over Nvidia's future business in China. While the US administration has again allowed sales of some Nvidia chip systems to the country, it imposed a steep 25% fee. It also remains unclear whether Beijing will permit Chinese companies to purchase the chips.
