By Michael Lietke, Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Nvidia, the pioneer of artificial intelligence technology, has overcome a wave of tariff-driven turbulence, offering another quarter of its robust growth amid a frenzy of demand for high-power chips that make computers more human.
The results released on Wednesday during the February-April period opposed President Donald Trump’s only, only trade war background.
But Trump’s tariffs (many of which have been reduced or temporarily suspended) hit the market value of Nvidia and other technological powers heading into the spring revenue season as investors attracted trade disruptions that blew the industry’s outlook.
These concerns have been eased over the past six weeks as most large tech companies have come to or exceeded analyst forecasts restricted to Nvidia’s first quarter reports.
Nvidia won $18.8 billion per share, or 76 cents per share, for a period of 26% increase from last year. Revenues rose 69% from a year ago to $44.1 billion. Without the $4.5 billion bill that Nvidia absorbed in light of the US government’s restrictions on chip sales to China, Nvidia would have made 96 cents per share, far exceeding the analysts’ expectation of 73 cents per share.
Another positive indication, Nvidia predicted revenues to be around $45 billion for the May-July period, at a level that investors had expected. The forecast includes an estimated $8 billion in sales to China due to second-quarter export controls after regulations cost around $2.5 billion in quarter.
“The global demand for Nvidia’s AI infrastructure is extremely strong,” said Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia.
Performance has strengthened Nvidia’s shares. This earned more than 4% in extended transactions after the numbers were announced. Nvidia’s stock ended its regular trading session on Wednesday at $134.81. This was just below the one that Trump stood before taking office on January 20th. The price fell to $86.62 last month during a dive that temporarily wiped out $1.2 trillion in shareholder wealth.
Nvidia’s outlook began to brighten last month after AI leaders such as Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta platforms reaffirmed plans to invest heavily in AI. That spending is a boon for Nvidia as its chipset provides a technological brain.
Wedbush Securities Analyst estimates that the large tech companies will spend around $325 billion this year, primarily on AI, and estimates Nvidia’s chip budget is pretty high.
Trump’s trade war has raised questions about Nvidia’s ability to maintain amazing momentum by threatening to shut down major markets, particularly China.
In an obvious attempt to curry favor with the president, Huang announced last month that Nvidia will help boost US manufacturing by building AI chips and some of its supercomputers on plants in Arizona and Texas. Huang also accompanied Trump on a trip to Saudi Arabia earlier this month, signaling Nvidia’s ambition to sell more AI chips in the Middle East as the region seeks to reduce its economic dependence on oil.
Trump also expanded his supporters by withdrawing scheduled start export controls that would have expanded restrictions on chip sales in foreign markets already in place in transactions with China and Russia by withdrawing scheduled start export controls created under President Joe Biden’s administration.
Original issue: May 28, 2025, 5:14pm EDT
