NVIDIA posts 14 straight quarters

NVIDIA reported first-quarter fiscal 2027 revenue of $81.6 billion on May 20, up 20% from the prior quarter and 85% from a year earlier, as demand for AI infrastructure stayed strong across large cloud and internet customers. The company also projected second-quarter revenue of about $91 billion, plus or minus 2%, above Wall Street expectations cited in market coverage. Nvidia said data center revenue reached a record $75.2 billion, up 92% from a year earlier. The results extended a run of quarterly growth that has become central to the company’s standing in the AI buildout. ### How unusual is 14 straight quarters of sequential growth? Yahoo Finance said Nvidia has now posted 14 consecutive quarters of sequential revenue growth, a streak that spans nearly four years and is rare for a cyclical semiconductor company. Nvidia’s own first-quarter release showed revenue rising from the previous quarter for a 14th straight period, with total sales increasing by roughly $13.5 billion sequentially. (investor.nvidia.com) The first-quarter figures also showed where that growth is concentrated. Nvidia said data center revenue was $75.2 billion, while under its previous reporting format, data center compute revenue was $60.4 billion and networking revenue was $14.8 billion. Those businesses were up 18% and 35% sequentially, respectively. (finance.yahoo.com) ### Who is still buying at this scale? Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s chief executive, said the “buildout of AI factories” was accelerating and described Nvidia as positioned across “every cloud” and from “hyperscale data centers to the edge.” Reuters reported that Huang sought to reassure investors that Nvidia’s customer base remained broad and that new products would help sustain growth. (investor.nvidia.com) Nvidia also used the quarter to change how it reports the business. The company said it will move to two market platforms — Data Center and Edge Computing — and within Data Center it will disclose Hyperscale and ACIE, a category covering AI Clouds, Industrial and Enterprise. The change is aimed at showing investors more clearly where revenue is coming from as the company expands beyond the biggest cloud operators. (investor.nvidia.com) ### Why did investors still look uneasy after another beat? Reuters reported that Nvidia’s outlook topped estimates, but investors were focused on whether the company could maintain its pace of expansion as expectations climbed. Bloomberg similarly reported that Nvidia faced more skepticism from investors even as it beat on earnings and guided to about $91 billion in second-quarter revenue. (investor.nvidia.com) That has shifted the debate. Recent market commentary has focused less on whether AI demand is real and more on whether supply, competition and the normal slowing that comes with scale will cap upside. CNBC reported that Nvidia’s stock slid after the results even though data center revenue nearly doubled, underscoring how much of the market’s attention has moved to the next constraint rather than the latest quarter’s headline beat. (msn.com) ### What did Nvidia do besides report earnings? Nvidia said on May 18 its board approved an additional $80 billion in share repurchases, and the company raised its quarterly cash dividend to $0.25 a share from $0.01. Nvidia said it returned about $20 billion to shareholders in the first quarter through buybacks and dividends. (cnbc.com) The dividend increase comes with a near-term date investors can track. Nvidia said the new quarterly dividend will be paid on June 26, 2026, to shareholders of record on June 4, 2026. (investor.nvidia.com)