(New York) American semiconductor giant Nvidia once again largely exceeded expectations for the first quarter of its staggered financial year, confirming that the momentum given by generative artificial intelligence (AI) cannot be denied.
The Santa Clara (California) group generated a net profit of $14.9 billion, more than sevenfold compared to the same period last year (+628%), according to a press release published Wednesday.
Reported per share and excluding exceptional items, a benchmark indicator on Wall Street, the profit came to $6.12, well beyond the $5.65 anticipated by analysts.
Unknown to the general public until two years ago, Nvidia was catapulted by the emergence of so-called generative artificial intelligence (AI), a large consumer of its chips, the famous graphics cards, to the point of becoming the symbol of this movement. .
Its direct competitors, but also the behemoths of generative AI like Amazon, Microsoft or Alphabet, which seek to develop their own semiconductors, are chasing it.
But this company initially created to improve the graphics of video games remains, for the moment, several steps ahead.
During its first financial quarter, which runs from the end of January to the end of April, Nvidia rode its growth in data centers.
The latter were already at the origin of the remote computing revolution and have become even more essential to host the computing capacities necessary for generative AI.
Semiconductors supplied to this sector accounted for nearly 87% of the group’s turnover, the division having more than quintupled its revenues in one year (+422%).
“The next industrial revolution has begun,” commented co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang, quoted in the press release. “AI will enable productivity gains in almost all industries and help businesses reduce their costs and energy consumption. »
As it stands, the development of large generative AI models nevertheless requires a considerable amount of energy.
In total, the company’s turnover increased 3.6 times over one year, to $26.0 billion.
“Nvidia has defied gravity again,” commented Jacob Bourne, analyst at Emarketer. “We can expect that his bold decisions will allow him to retain his position until further notice. »
In electronic trading after the close on Wall Street, the group’s action gained 3.90%.