Nvidia Tops Estimates as Blackwell Boosts Data-Center Sales

Nvidia reported first-quarter results on May 20, with revenue of $81.62 billion and adjusted earnings per share of $1.87, above analysts’ estimates of $79.19 billion and EPS forecasts.

Data-center revenue, which powers AI training and inference workloads, reached $75.2 billion, beating the Street estimate of $73.48 billion.

For the second quarter the company projected revenue between $89.18 billion and $92.82 billion; the consensus forecast was $87.36 billion.

Nvidia attributed stronger sales to demand for its Blackwell AI architecture, citing expansion across hyperscale cloud providers, sovereign AI initiatives and enterprise deployments.

Management introduced a simplified reporting model built around two platforms, Data Center and Edge Computing, intended to reflect how AI workloads are spreading beyond centralized cloud infrastructure.

Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com, described Nvidia as the bellwether for the AI trade.

Market indicators tied to AI exposure, including crypto-linked tokens, rose after the results, with the sector’s market capitalization increasing about 2% to roughly $24.39 billion.

Analysts will monitor Nvidia’s ability to maintain gross margins while ramping production of Blackwell systems and order flow from large technology customers such as Microsoft, Amazon and Google. Observers will also watch competition, export restrictions and valuation trends.

With another quarter of record revenue forecast, attention will focus on supply execution, pricing trends and how quickly Nvidia can expand capacity to meet growing demand for AI infrastructure.