AI boom drove Nvidia profits up 580% last year

Nvidia’s profits grew to nearly $12.3 billion in the three months ended January 28 — up from $1.4 billion in the year-ago quarter, a gain of 769% year-over-year and even stronger growth than Wall Street analysts had expected, the company reported Wednesday. That result helped bring the company’s full-year profits up more than 580% from the year earlier.

Nvidia also posted fourth quarter revenue gains of 265% year-over-year, also exceeding analyst projections, as the company continues to ride the wave of massive AI investment.

“Demand is surging worldwide across companies, industries and nations,” CEO Jensen Huang said in a statement Wednesday.

Nvidia is crucial to the burgeoning AI space. The American chipmaker is unmatched in producing processors that power artificial intelligence systems, including for generative AI, the buzzy new technology that can create text, images and other media.

Nvidia accounts for around 70% of AI semiconductor sales, even as Meta, Amazon, IBM and Microsoft have all begun producing some of their own chips, according to Dan Morgan, vice president at Synovus Trust Company.

Sales from the company’s core data center business grew 409% year-over-year to a record $18.4 billion in the fourth quarter, thanks to partnerships with infrastructure giants like Google, Amazon and Cisco.

But the company’s soaring stock price over the past year — shares grew around 230% in 2023 — means Nvidia is now deeply important to the broader market, too. In a note on Tuesday, Goldman Sachs analysts called Nvidia “the most important stock on planet earth.” Nvidia was the top performing S&P 500 stock in 2023.

Nvidia’s shares jumped nearly 7% in after-hours trading following Wednesday’s report.

The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.