Nvidia CEO Addresses Wall Street’s AI Bubble Concerns During Market Downturn: ‘We Excel at Every Step of AI’

Global stock markets experienced an upward trend following Nvidia’s impressive third-quarter profits, which surpassed Wall Street forecasts, easing concerns that the AI company’s skyrocketing valuations might have reached their limit.

On Wednesday, all attention turned to Nvidia, the frontrunner in the AI industry and the highest valued publicly traded company globally. Analysts and investors were eager for the chip maker’s third-quarter results, hoping they would dispel worries about an impending bubble in the sector.

Nvidia’s founder and CEO, Jensen Huang, addressed these apprehensions right at the start of the earnings call, emphasizing that a significant transformation is underway in AI, and Nvidia stands at the core of this change.

“Many discuss the AI bubble,” Huang noted. “From our viewpoint, the situation looks quite different. To clarify, Nvidia differs from other accelerators. We shine at every phase of AI, from pre-training through to inference.”

The company consistently exceeded Wall Street’s expectations across multiple metrics, indicating that the substantial AI economic boom is not decelerating. Nvidia announced diluted earnings per share of $1.30 on total revenues of $57.01 billion, which topped investor expectations of $1.26 per share on revenues of $54.9 billion. Sales surged by 62% year over year, with data center revenues reaching $51.2 billion—surpassing the anticipated $49 billion. The company also forecasts fourth-quarter sales to be around $65 billion, exceeding analyst expectations of $61 billion.

During a conference call with investors, Huang outlined three pivotal shifts in platforms: the move from general-purpose computing to accelerated computing, the transition toward generative AI, and the development of agential and physical AI, such as robotics and autonomous vehicles.

“When contemplating infrastructure investments, consider three fundamental dynamics,” Huang stated. “Each one adds to the wealth of infrastructure. Nvidia… facilitates all three transitions, and we do so across all types and modalities of AI.”

He further noted that demand for Nvidia’s chips continues to expand.

“AI permeates everywhere and operates on multiple fronts simultaneously.”

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According to Thomas Monteiro, Senior Analyst at Investing.com, “This clarifies many uncertainties surrounding the AI revolution; the essence is clear: The AI revolution is far from nearing its peak. Despite investor concerns that rising capital expenditures may compel firms to decelerate their adoption cycles for AI, Nvidia continues to demonstrate that data center growth is not merely an alternative but an essential requirement for every tech company globally.”

Analysts and experts expressed confidence that Nvidia would exceed Wall Street’s forecasts but were keenly awaiting further insights regarding industry demand for the company’s AI chips.

“There’s no denying Nvidia maintains its position as the dominant player in AI-centric chips,” noted David Meyer, a senior analyst at the investment platform Motley Fool. “We anticipate that revenue, margins, and cash flow will align closely with analysts’ predictions. However, invaluable insights are more likely to stem from management’s commentary on their market outlook, whether concerning the AI sector or new markets they are exploring.”

In November, Nvidia’s shares experienced a 7.9% decline amid significant investors offloading their holdings. Peter Thiel’s hedge fund teal macro divested its entire stake in the chipmaker in the last quarter, with estimates of around $100 million in assets, according to Reuters. SoftBank also offloaded $5.8 billion worth of its shares, heightening concerns regarding an AI bubble.

Following the news, Nvidia’s shares, having recently achieved the milestone of being the world’s first $5 trillion company, increased by over 5% in after-hours trading, with S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures also climbing. Asian markets rose on Thursday as well.

However, Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management cautioned: “NVIDIA’s latest forecast has thus far alleviated some of the most intense apprehensions regarding an AI bubble looming over global markets… Nevertheless, this situation still leaves markets precariously balanced between exuberance over AI and the sobering reality marked by debt.”

“We do not believe Nvidia’s growth can be sustained in the long run,” asserted Alvin Nguyen, senior analyst at Forrester. “Although the demand for AI is unmatched, we anticipate Nvidia’s stock growth may slow if market corrections occur, balancing supply with demand, innovation progresses at a slower pace, or companies become acclimated to the current rate.”

Source: www.theguardian.com

Nvidia surpasses Wall Street’s expectations with big tech AI investments in Technology sector

Nvidia, the chipmaker, revealed its latest financial statements on Wednesday, with revenue reaching $30.04 billion in the last three months. This is a significant increase of 122% compared to the previous year, indicating sustained growth in their artificial intelligence investments.

Despite analysts’ projections of $28.7 billion in sales, the company’s shares dropped more than 3% in after-hours trading.

Nvidia’s founder and CEO, Jensen Huang, announced plans to ship a greater number of chips and hardware next year than in the company’s 31-year history during an earnings call.

Huang highlighted the importance of fast development due to the increasing complexity of their models. He stated that the company aims to lower costs while scaling AI models to unprecedented levels for the next industrial revolution.

Analysts, while optimistic about the results, acknowledged signs that Nvidia’s exceptional revenue growth might be slowing down. Major tech companies’ aggressive AI investments are driving demand for Nvidia chips, but these companies are also investing in their own silicon development.

The company informed customers about a delay in the launch of their next-generation AI chip, known as Blackwell. Early samples have already been sent to a limited number of customers. Despite this, the current graphics processing unit, Hopper, continues to sell well according to CEO Jensen Huang.

Nvidia reported record revenue with a 154% increase in data center revenue year over year, amounting to $26.3 billion, reflecting the demand for accelerated computing and generative AI in data centers globally.

Nvidia’s earnings results hold great significance on Wall Street, as the company accounts for 6% of the total value of the S&P 500 and is the third-largest company globally with a market capitalization of $3.1 trillion.

Recent reports from major tech customers such as Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Google, show increased capital spending as they utilize Nvidia chips to develop and train their AI models.

The company’s earnings per share were $0.68, and they announced a $50 billion share repurchase. Profit is expected to rise to $15.1 billion, up from approximately $6.2 billion in the same period last year.

Ives, a Wedbush analyst, emphasized the importance of Nvidia’s earnings report on the stock market, estimating that every dollar spent on Nvidia’s GPU chips contributes $8 to $10 to profits across the tech sector.

The market’s focus on Nvidia’s performance stems from the belief that AI advancements will boost global productivity for years to come.

Comparisons to the Internet bubble of the late 1990s have emerged, with concerns that the AI boom might peak if Nvidia’s results disappoint investors.

Regulators are closely monitoring Nvidia, following an antitrust investigation launched by the Department of Justice after allegations from rival chipmakers. The investigation claims Nvidia is using its market power to monopolize markets and compel customers to continue buying its products.

Source: www.theguardian.com