NVIDIA overcomes tariff-driven turbulence and provides forecasted first quarter results

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – NVIDIA, the leader in artificial intelligence technology, overcomes a wave of tariff-driven turbulence, providing strong growth in the demand for fever amid the heat demand for high-power chips that make computers look more user-friendly.

The result announced between February and April was amid the backdrop of President Donald Trump’s one-time trade war that caused NVIDIA and other big tech companies riding AI Mania to whip AI Mania to drive its revenue and share price up.

But Trump’s tariffs, many of which have been reduced or temporarily suspended, hammer the market value of NVIDIA and other technology powerhouses into the spring income season as investors get upset by trade turmoil, reducing the outlook for the industry.

These concerns have eased over the past six weeks as most of the big tech companies reside or surpass analyst forecasts that NVIDIA's fiscal report in the first quarter has restricted investors.

NVIDIA's revenue was $18.8 billion, or 76 cents per share, up 26% from the same period last year. Revenue surged 69% a year ago to $44.1 billion. If it weren't for $4.5 billion, NVIDIA absorbed restrictions on U.S. government sales of chips on China, and NVIDIA would have 96 cents per share, far higher than analysts' 73 cents per share.

In another positive sign, NVIDIA predicts its revenue from May to July to be about $45 billion, about the level expected by investors. The forecast includes estimated loss of approximately $8 billion in sales to China due to its second-quarter fiscal controls after revenue of approximately $2.5 billion in the first quarter.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang said in a conference call with analysts that the U.S. government has effectively blocked sales of AI chips to China, a market estimated at $50 billion. Huang warned that export controls prompted China to build more of its own bargaining chips in the transformation he predicted the United States would eventually regret.

Huang said: “The U.S. policy is based on the assumption that China cannot make AI chips. This assumption is always questionable and is obviously wrong now.”

Despite NVIDIA's loss of opportunity in China, investors are excited about the company's first-quarter performance. NVIDIA shares earned more than 4% in expanded trading following the digital release. NVIDIA's share price ended Wednesday's regular trading session at $134.81, slightly lower than Trump's stock price before taking office on January 20. Last month's nose, the price fell to $86.62, temporarily deleting $1.2 trillion in shareholder wealth.