Nvidia, the Santa Clara, California-based semiconductor giant, reported record quarterly revenue of $81.6 billion on Wednesday, surpassing Wall Street forecasts and cementing its position as the primary engine of the global artificial intelligence infrastructure buildout. The results, covering the February-to-April period — the first quarter of Nvidia's fiscal year 2027 — represent an 85% jump from the same quarter a year ago and a 20% rise from the prior quarter. Net profit soared to $58.3 billion, more than tripling from $18.8 billion in the year-earlier period. The company also forecast revenue of $91 billion for the current quarter, ahead of most analyst estimates.

The driving force behind the results was Nvidia's data-centre business, which sells the graphics processing units (GPUs) that power AI systems at technology companies worldwide. GPUs are specialised chips originally designed to render video game graphics but have since become the essential hardware for training and running artificial intelligence models. That business posted quarterly revenue of $75.2 billion, up 92% year-on-year, reflecting what CEO Jensen Huang described as a historic infrastructure wave.