Despite Export Restrictions to China… NVIDIA's Surge

Despite the Trump administration's export restrictions to China, NVIDIA's sales for this quarter from February to April surged by 69%, approaching 70%. The explosive demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips used in data centers, automobiles, and robotics filled the gap in exports to China and achieved steep growth.

On the 28th (local time), according to NVIDIA and Financial Times, NVIDIA recorded sales of 44.6 billion dollars (60.6 trillion won) and earnings per share of 0.96 dollars (1,320 won) this quarter. Both sales and earnings per share exceeded market research expectations. Sales increased by 69% compared to the same period last year, and net profit also increased by 26% from a year ago to 14.9 billion dollars.

The data center sector, which has high demand for AI chips and related components, led the growth with sales of 39.1 billion dollars, up 73%. This sector accounted for 88% of total sales. Large cloud providers like Microsoft (MS) accounted for half of the sales in this sector.

Networking product sales also recorded 5 billion dollars. They were used to connect numerous NVIDIA chips for AI research. The gaming sector increased by 42% to 3.8 billion dollars, and the automotive and robotics sector recorded sales of 567 million dollars, up 72%. AP News commented, "NVIDIA overcame the tariff shock and achieved another strong quarterly growth amid demand for high-performance chips." NVIDIA expects sales of 45 billion dollars in the next quarter (May to July), which is a conservative forecast compared to LSEG's sales forecast of 45.9 billion dollars.

Meanwhile, Jensen Huang (pictured) said in an interview with CNBC that "there are many developers in China, and we want all developers worldwide to prefer the U.S. technology stack," adding, "This is the most important strategic reason for us to enter China."

Lee Seok-woo, Reporter