AI helped NVIDIA break Wall Street record, and now the tech giant is the fourth most valuable company in the world
NVIDIA is now the third most valuable US company, trailing only Microsoft and Apple
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What you need to know
Earlier this week,NVIDIA announced its financial resultsfor the 2024 fiscal year that ended on January 28, 2024. The reports show massive increases in several key areas, Q4 FY24 earnings of $22.1 billion, and a $14.514 increase year-over-year in data center revenue alone. Full year revenue went up 126% by reaching $60.9 billion. Now, shortly after NVIDIA’s impressive earnings report, stock of the company rose dramatically.
NVIDIA’s market cap rose by $250 billion since Wednesday. This week’s low mark for NVIDIA shares was $662.64. That figure reached $785.50 at one point today. The increase is the largest-ever one-day gain on Wall Street, according toReuters. The exact number will be a bit different by the close of market today, but it’s clear that perception of NVIDIA is strong. The company’s total market cap hit $1.96 trillion this week.
NVIDIA is now the third most valuable company in the United States, trailing only Microsoft and Apple. NVIDIA is also fourth most valuable in the world, trailing Microsoft, Apple, and Saudi Aramco.
AI leading the way
While NVIDIA posted respectable numbers across the board and improved in several areas, it’s clear that its data center platform is key to the recent surge in value. Revenue in that segment skyrocketed to $18.404 billion in Q4 FY24, which is an increase of 14.514 billion compared to the same quarter in the previous year.
“Our Data Center platform is powered by increasingly diverse drivers — demand for data processing, training and inference from large cloud-service providers and GPU-specialized ones, as well as from enterprise software and consumer internet companies,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “Vertical industries — led by auto, financial services and healthcare — are now at a multibillion-dollar level.”
Huang also emphasized the importance of generative AI for NVIDIA’s success. “Accelerated computing and generative AI have hit the tipping point. Demand is surging worldwide across companies, industries and nations,” said Huang.
The rapid increase in data center revenue should come as no surprise, since generative AI is becoming more popular by the day. A report in March 2023 estimated thatChatGPT may need 30,000 NVIDIA GPUs to operate. OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT, is hardly the only big name in the generative AI business.Google GeminiandMicrosoft Copilotare often talked about as consumer-focused AI tools, but there are also several enterprise applications for artificial intelligence.
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NVIDIA upping its game
While data center was the star of the year in terms of revenue, NVIDIA’s gaming efforts saw success as well. Q4 FY24 gaming revenue was $2.9 billion, which is flat compared to the previous quarter but up 56% from Q4 FY23. Revenue grew 15% to $10.4 billion in NVIDIA’s gaming segment.
NVIDIA just launched its GeForce RTX 40 SUPER Series GPUs, so the gaming giant could see another strong year when it comes to graphics. In ourNVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super Founders Edition review, the GPU earned a near-perfect 4.5/5.
Of course, even NVIDIA’s gaming segment is tied tightly with AI.Over 500 games and apps support AI-powered RTX featureslike DLSS and ray tracing as of late last year.
NVIDIA also has a new tool called Chat with RTX that runs entirely on your PC rather than sending data to a cloud server. Our Harish Jonnalagadda wenthands-on with Chat with RTXearlier this month and came away impressed.
Sean Endicott is a tech journalist at Windows Central, specializing in Windows, Microsoft software, AI, and PCs. He’s covered major launches, from Windows 10 and 11 to the rise of AI tools like ChatGPT. Sean’s journey began with the Lumia 740, leading to strong ties with app developers. Outside writing, he coaches American football, utilizing Microsoft services to manage his team. He studied broadcast journalism at Nottingham Trent University and is active on X @SeanEndicott_ and Threads @sean_endicott_.
