Nvidia Reports 69% Revenue Surge, 44.062 Billion Dollars in Q1 2026

Nvidia, a prominent player in the AI chip market, recently released its financial report for the first quarter of the 2026 fiscal year, showcasing a remarkable 69% year-over-year increase in revenue, totaling 44.062 billion dollars. This performance surpassed market expectations of 43.28 billion dollars. The company's net income, under the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), reached 18.775 billion dollars, marking a 26% increase from the previous year. On a non-GAAP basis, earnings per share were 0.81 dollars, a 33% increase year-over-year. Adjusting for the costs and tax impacts related to the H20 chip export restrictions, the earnings per share would have been 0.96 dollars, exceeding market forecasts of 0.86 dollars.

Nvidia also provided guidance for the second quarter of the 2026 fiscal year, projecting sales to be around 45 billion dollars, with a potential variance of 2%. The company attributed an 800 million dollar loss to the H20 export restrictions. The first quarter's financial results were significantly impacted by a 4.5 billion dollar expense due to excess inventory of H20 chips, resulting from new export restrictions implemented on April 9. Prior to these restrictions, H20 products generated 4.6 billion dollars in sales, with an additional 2.5 billion dollars in potential sales lost due to the limitations.

Jensen Huang, Nvidia's CEO, highlighted the strong global demand for AI infrastructure, noting that the company's AI supercomputer, Blackwell NVL72, designed for inference, has been fully deployed in systems and cloud services. Huang emphasized that the demand for AI computing power is accelerating, driven by the increasing use of AI agents and the exponential growth in token generation. He stated that AI is becoming as fundamental as electricity and the internet, positioning Nvidia at the forefront of this transformative shift.

In the data center segment, Nvidia's revenue reached 39.1 billion dollars, a 73% increase year-over-year and a 10% increase quarter-over-quarter. The Blackwell chip contributed nearly 70% of the data center's computing revenue, with Microsoft deploying tens of thousands of Blackwell GPU chips. Nvidia also announced the upcoming production of the new GB300 computing platform in the current quarter.

Despite the challenges posed by export restrictions, Huang reiterated the importance of the China market, describing it as a critical platform for global success. He noted that the U.S. export controls are based on the flawed assumption that China cannot develop its own AI chips, an assumption that has proven incorrect. Huang asserted that China's AI industry will continue to advance, with or without American chips, as it possesses the computational power needed to train and deploy advanced models. He also pointed out that protecting Chinese chip manufacturers from U.S. competition could inadvertently strengthen their global capabilities while weakening the U.S.'s position.

Huang acknowledged that the export restrictions have stimulated innovation and scale within China's industry, potentially enhancing its global competitiveness. He also mentioned that Nvidia is exploring the possibility of introducing new products to continue serving the China market, although no specific products have been announced yet. Huang's comments underscore the resilience and growth potential of the AI sector in China, which remains a key market for Nvidia's global strategy.