Nvidia inventory hits file excessive as US chip maker cashes in on AI craze
Shares in US chip maker Ndivia soared yesterday as it cashes in on the artificial intelligence craze.
The stock – one of the ‘Magnificent Seven’ – rose more than 11 per cent to an all-time high after revenues surged over 262 per cent in the most recent quarter.
That added over £210billion to its value in a single day and left it with a market capitalisation of £2trillion.
The gain is more than the £192billion value of drugs giant AstraZeneca, the largest firm on the UK stock market.
Nvidia shares have more than doubled this year and are up sevenfold since the beginning of 2023.
Boom time: Nvidia boss Jenen Huang has seen shares in the US chip maker almost double this year
The surge came after the company, which designs chips used in AI, unveiled bumper quarterly results.
Revenues hit £20billion in the three months to the end of April, which was up 262 per cent from the year before and smashed Wall Street estimates.
The chipmaker also announced a ten-for-one stock split effective from June 7 and said it was hiking its quarterly cash dividend 150 per cent.
Chief executive Jensen Huang said demand was ‘so strong’ and pushed back against fears that this momentum would be fading any time soon.
Nvidia has cashed in as the world’s biggest technology companies rush to develop new AI products.
Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft have all said they will need to spend more on the chips and data centres needed to train and operate their AI systems in the coming months.
Dan Ives, analyst at Wedbush Securities, described Huang as ‘the Godfather of AI’ and said that he has ‘delivered another masterpiece’ set of results.
‘The AI revolution starts with Nvidia – and in our view the AI party is just getting started,’ he added.
Founded in 1993, the story of the world’s most valuable chip maker started at a Silicon Valley diner, with Huang and two other engineers, Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem.
Uncertain exactly what their business would look like, their strategy was to place early bets on markets that barely existed at the time, starting out with PC gaming and graphics processing.
This proved a major success, with their graphics processing unit now essential in the world of gaming in popular titles such as Call of Duty.
But its most recent bet in the world of AI has proved its most lucrative, making it the first semiconductor company to rack up a $1trillion (£787billion) market valuation in May last year.
It means that Nvidia is now estalished as a firm member of the ‘Magnificent Seven’, alongside fellow American corporate giants Google owner Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft and Tesla.
