Nvidia data center revenue nearly doubles

Nvidia reported on May 20 that first-quarter fiscal 2027 revenue rose 85% from a year earlier to a record $81.6 billion, driven by another surge in demand for artificial intelligence chips. Data center revenue, the company’s largest business, climbed 92% to a record $75.2 billion, according to Nvidia’s earnings release. The results topped Wall Street expectations, extending a run of quarterly beats as cloud providers and other customers continue to spend heavily on AI infrastructure. Nvidia also announced an additional $80 billion share repurchase authorization and raised its quarterly cash dividend to $0.25 per share from $0.01. ### How big was the data center jump? Data center revenue reached $75.2 billion in the quarter ended April 26, 2026, up 92% from a year earlier and up from $62.3 billion in the prior quarter’s comparable disclosure. Total quarterly revenue was $81.6 billion, which means the data center segment accounted for the vast majority of Nvidia’s sales in the period. Nvidia said the quarter included strong demand for its AI computing products as customers expanded what Chief Executive Jensen Huang described as “AI factories.” (investor.nvidia.com) Jensen Huang said in the company’s earnings release that “AI factory buildouts are accelerating at extraordinary speed.” The company’s official results also described revenue for the quarter as a record, underscoring how much of Nvidia’s growth is still being carried by data center spending rather than its gaming or other businesses. ### What did Nvidia report beyond revenue? (investor.nvidia.com) Nvidia said first-quarter revenue rose 20% from the previous quarter as well as 85% from a year earlier. The company paired the earnings report with an $80 billion increase to its share repurchase authorization and a dividend increase, moves disclosed alongside the results on its investor relations site. The Associated Press reported that Nvidia again surpassed Wall Street expectations, citing continued demand for high-end AI chips. (investor.nvidia.com) That result came as investors have watched the company as a bellwether for spending on generative AI systems and the broader semiconductor sector. ### What did Huang say about demand? Huang said demand for AI infrastructure remained strong as companies build out large computing clusters for training and running AI models. (investor.nvidia.com) In Nvidia’s release, he said AI factory buildouts were moving ahead at “extraordinary speed,” linking the quarter’s growth to ongoing orders from major customers. CNBC reported after the earnings release that Huang also said Nvidia had “largely conceded” China’s advanced AI chip market to Huawei. (apnews.com) CNBC said Huang described Huawei as “very, very strong” in China and said the market had once represented at least one-fifth of Nvidia’s data center revenue. ### Why is China part of the story? China remained a pressure point in Nvidia’s outlook because U.S. export restrictions have limited which advanced chips the company can sell there. (investor.nvidia.com) CNBC reported that Huang said Nvidia had effectively withdrawn from that part of the market, allowing Huawei to gain ground with domestic customers. That contrast — record global data center growth alongside a retreat in China — sat alongside the quarterly beat. (cnbc.com) Nvidia’s official release did not frame the China comments the same way, but the company’s reported numbers showed that demand elsewhere was strong enough to push revenue to a new high. ### What comes next after this quarter? Nvidia said the reported period was the first quarter of fiscal 2027 and ended on April 26, 2026. (cnbc.com) The company had previously said its second quarter of fiscal 2027 would follow the quarter ending July 26, 2026, with the next earnings webcast to be posted on its investor relations site. (investor.nvidia.com) Investors will also be watching whether Nvidia can sustain data center growth after the latest 92% increase and how much China-related restrictions continue to affect the mix of that business. Those updates are typically detailed in the company’s next quarterly release and conference call materials. (investor.nvidia.com 1) (investor.nvidia.com 2)