Nvidia Shares Leap 20% on Record Data Center Revenue

Nvidia (NVDA) shares were sharply higher in extended trading on Wednesday after the company beat analysts’ estimates for revenue and posted record data center sales.

The Santa Clara, California-based chip firm said first quarter revenue was 19% higher than in the previous quarter. Results also showed a 13% drop from the year-ago quarter, with analysts expecting a larger drop of 21%. Earnings per diluted share were $1.09, down 20% from a year ago. Net income of $2.04 billion was up 26% year-over-year.

Management said that revenue in the second quarter would come in at $11 billion as CEO Jensen Huang said that the industry was going through “two simultaneous transitions” in accelerated computing and artificial intelligence (AI).

“A trillion dollars of installed global data center infrastructure will transition from general-purpose to accelerated computing,” Huang said. He added that the company was increasing the supply of its data center products to meet “surging demand.”

Nvidia also announced yesterday that it was integrating its AI enterprise software into Microsoft’s Azure Machine to accelerate AI use cases for corporations.

Shares of Nvidia surged over 20% in extended trading after the earnings release, and were up more than 100% year-to-date.