Nvidia just proved the AI boom has room to run

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Noah Berger

• Nvidia’s revenue beat estimates, indicating its AI-fueled boom has more room to run.
• “Accelerated computing and generative AI have hit the tipping point,” said CEO Jensen Huang.
• It also gave a rosy forecast but “can’t rest on its laurels,” Insider Intelligence said.

Nvidia raked in $22.1 billion in revenue in the fourth quarter, beating estimates and proving the artificial intelligence gold rush is still on.

“Accelerated computing and generative AI have hit the tipping point. Demand is surging worldwide across companies, industries, and nations,” said Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in a press release.

Nvidia’s RTX chips are now a “massive PC platform for generative AI, enjoyed by 100 million gamers and creators,” Huang added. “The year ahead will bring major new product cycles with exceptional innovations to help propel our industry forward.”

Nvidia also gave a rosy outlook for its next quarter with even higher revenues.

The results had been closely watched by analysts, who have linked Nvidia’s performance with the spiking demand for AI across the world’s tech companies. The company’s shares gained in postmarket trading after the earnings were released.

In an interview on CNBC on Wednesday, Byron Deeter of Bessemer Venture Capital said Nvidia’s growth — even while the AI market expands — has been “impressive to watch.”

Deeter said companies trying to lean into AI will continue to need Nvidia’s chips.

“Simply put, the artificial intelligence wave is the next big trend in software,” he said. “It is the next horizon in cloud computing. It’s going to continue to pull through massive demand for many years ahead.”

“These software companies aren’t building their own stacks in the vast majority of cases and so they are dependent on these hyper scalers and infrastructure providers to power this revolution,” Deeter continued. “And so the demand curves that we see in the private sector, which is the leading indicator to the pull-through of these chips, is just building.”

Still, Insider Intelligence senior analyst Jacob Bourne said Nvidia will need to keep outpacing its rivals.

“Another blockbuster quarter from Nvidia raises the question of how long its soaring performance will last,” Bourne said. “It has a massive lead in the growing global AI chip sector but can’t rest on its laurels.”

“Nvidia faces a multifaceted challenge: headwinds of macroeconomic uncertainty, tech giants’ drive for AI hardware autonomy, and the emerging threat from agile chip innovators like Groq could ding its longer-term outlook,” Bourne continued. “Nvidia’s near-term market strength is durable, though not invincible. Its newly created custom chip development division and a partnership with Equinix to help enterprises reduce reliance on the cloud giants for AI workloads, provide evidence of nimble strategic positioning.”