Nvidia said it brought in $44.06 billion for the first quarter of fiscal year 2025, up 72 percent from the same time last year. It also beat analyst expectations for profit and sent the company’s stock up 6 percent during after-hours trading.
Data center leads growth amid export restrictions
Nvidia’s data center division accounted for 88 percent of its total revenue, or $39.1 billion. The growth was fueled by demand for AI infrastructure, mostly from cloud providers. Despite strong results, the company has struggled to shake off constraints placed on its U.S. export rules, weakening sales of its H20 chips into China to the tune of an estimated $8 billion in lost revenue. The inventory write-down amounted to $4.5 billion, and potential sales dropped $2.5 billion.
The new $50 billion market is essentially closed to the US industry, said CEO Jensen Huang, adding the restrictions effectively shut down Nvidia’s AI business in China. Last quarter’s 61 percent gross margin compares to over what we would expect without China, 71.3 percent.
Earnings beat expectations as market demand remains strong
Earnings adjusted for items such as charges for legal matters and foreign currency came to 96 cents per share, well ahead of the 93 cents analysts were expecting. The rise in net income for the quarter was to $18.8 billion compared to $14.9 billion a year ago. Cloud providers are deploying tens of thousands of Nvidia Blackwell GPUs, with more to come, according to Nvidia, the company said, citing Microsoft as among those deploying a scaled-up number. Total sales in the broader AI ecosystem remained strong, and sales of networking gear for AI training were $5 billion.
Other segments of the company also retained momentum. Drifting towards the future, Gaming saw a leap of 42% (up $3.8 billion) thanks to the chips being used for both gaming and its AI functions. Revenues grew 19 percent to $509 million, and automotive and robotics revenue rose 72 percent to $567 million.
Shareholder returns and market reaction
Stock buybacks returned $14.1 billion, while Nvidia paid out $244 million in dividends. Despite the regulatory hurdles, the stock is less than 5 percent off the high it made back in January. Broader markets lifted on a positive earnings report. Nasdaq 100 futures jumped 2%, as did Dow futures, which rose 511 points. Tech sector gains and easing trade tensions have now helped major indexes close both the week and month in positive territory.