Nvidia sales forecast jumps on AI boom

Nvidia, the leading semiconductor company, has announced strong second-quarter revenue forecasts, surpassing Wall Street estimates by over 50%. The company is ramping up its supply to meet the high demand for its artificial-intelligence (AI) chips, which are used in applications like ChatGPT. Following the announcement, Nvidia's shares soared by up to 28% to reach a record high, boosting the company's market value by about $200 billion. Nvidia has faced challenges in meeting the demand for its AI chips, which have been described as harder to obtain than drugs by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. However, the company's CEO, Jensen Huang, stated that they had already begun full production of the latest AI chips in August of the previous year, providing a buffer for supply constraints. The forecast for the current quarter is a revenue of $11 billion, plus or minus two percent, compared to analyst estimates of $7.15 billion. The company's data center chip sales also exceeded expectations, reaching $4.28 billion. Nvidia faces competition in the AI chip market from companies like AMD, Intel, Cerebras Systems, Google, and Amazon. However, Nvidia has shifted its focus toward selling complete AI supercomputing systems to large enterprises, offering AI expertise comparable to major tech giants. The company's net income rose to $2.04 billion, or 82 cents per share, from $1.62 billion, or 64 cents per share, in the previous year. Adjusted earnings per share for the first quarter were $1.09, exceeding estimates of 92 cents.