Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang displays products on-stage during the annual Nvidia GTC Artificial Intelligence Conference at SAP Center in San Jose, California, on March 18, 2024.
Josh Edelson | Afp | Getty Images
At the start of last week, OpenAI’s technology chief personally thanked Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang for “bringing us the most advanced” chips needed to run the demo for a presentation the company delivered on its latest artificial intelligence models.
A day later, at Google’s annual developer conference, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichaihighlighted his company’s “longstanding partnership with Nvidia,” and noted that Google Cloud will be using the chipmaker’s Blackwell graphics processing units (GPUs) in early 2025.
And this week, Microsoft, which provides servers to OpenAI, will announce new AI advancements and features that were developed on the company’s massive clusters of Nvidia GPUs. The company is hosting its Build conference in Redmond, Washington.
Heading into its quarterly earnings report on Wednesday, Nvidia finds itself at the center of the action in technology, a position that’s become increasingly commonplace for the 31-year-old company, whose market cap has ballooned past $2 trillion this year.
Nvidia is expected to report year-over-year revenue growth in excess of 200% for a third straight quarter, with analysts projecting a fiscal first-quarter bump-up of 243% to $24.6 billion, according to LSEG. More than $21 billion of that is expected to come from Nvidia’s data center business, which includes all the advanced processors the company is selling to Google, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, OpenAI and others.
Nvidia is squeezing so much profit out of its AI suite of products that net income is expected to be up more than fivefold from a year earlier to $13.9 billion.
The stock has soared 91% this year after more than tripling in 2023.
Dan Niles, founder of Niles Investment Management, compared Nvidia’s position in the AI boom to the “internet buildout” of the 1990s and Cisco’s role at the center in those days. Over a three-year stretch, Niles said, Cisco had several dramatic pullbacks, but ultimately increased 4,000% up to its peak in 2000. Nvidia will go through similar cycles, he said.
“We’re still really early in the AI build,” Niles told CNBC’s “Money Matters” on Monday. “I think the revenue will go up three to four times from current levels over the next three to four years, and I think the stock goes with it.”
Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, and Apple are expected to shell out a combined $200 billion in capital expenditures this year, according to an estimate from Bernstein, with a huge portion of the spending going to AI-specific infrastructure like Nvidia chips.
Elsewhere, OpenAI is relying on Nvidia’s technology for its latest chatbot, GPT-4o. Meta announced plans in March to buy and build out computers that will include 350,000 Nvidia GPUs, costing billions of dollars, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg even swapped jackets with Huang and posed for a picture with the Nvidia CEO.
“If you look at today for the AI build out, who’s really driving that?” Niles said. “It’s the most profitable companies on the planet — it’s Microsoft, it’s Google, it’s Meta, and they’re driving this.”
Jensen Huang, co-founder and chief executive officer of Nvidia Corp., arrives at an event in Taipei, Taiwan, on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024.
Lam Yik Fei | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Prior to the recent AI boom, Nvidia was known as the primary maker of chips used for 3D gaming. About a year ago, the chipmaker gave investors their first clue that the company would see a period of historic growth, signaling to Wall Street that it would generate about 50% more in sales than what analysts expected in the July 2023 quarter.
Growth rates have since accelerated. But starting in the second quarter, expansion is expected to slow, with analysts anticipating significant deceleration in each of the next three periods.
“We just don’t know how long this investment cycle lasts and just how much excess capacity will be created over that time in case this AI thing doesn’t materialize as quickly as expected,” Bernstein analysts wrote in a note earlier this month.
That’s not to say that Nvidia is at risk of losing a ton of the AI chip business to rivals. Piper Sandler analysts expect it to keep at least 75% of the AI accelerator market, even as companies like Google build their own custom chips.
“We view the percentage of hyperscaler spend that is dedicated towards compute further rising in 2024 and 2025,” Piper Sandler analyst Harsh Kumar wrote in a note.
One question the company faces is how well the transition is going to its next generation of AI chips, called Blackwell, which are expected to ship later this year. Some worry there could be a lull as clients hold off on buying the older Hopper GPUs like the H100 in favor of Blackwell-based chips such as the GH200.
“To some degree, the setup has shifted,” wrote Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore in a note on Monday. “Six months ago, short term expectations were very strong but there was anxiety about durability. Now, fresh on the back of hyperscalers talking up longer term spending expectations for AI, those longer term views are more positive, but there is anxiety about a pause in front of Blackwell.”
President Donald Trump’s trade policies will have a negative impact on Google parent Alphabet‘s core advertising business, an executive from the company said Thursday.
Alphabet, which reported stronger-than-expected revenue in its first quarter of the year, faces an online ads market that’s on edge due to concerns about how Trump’s tariffs will affect the economy and business spending. While the word “tariff” was never mentioned on Alphabet’s investor call Thursday, “macro” was mentioned several times as investors peppered company executives with questions about forward looking economic impacts amid new trade policies.
Several strategists increased their odds of a recession after Trump on April 2 announced tariffs for imports of goods into the U.S. from dozens of countries. On April 9, Trump lowered tariffs on many countries to 10% for three months.
Alphabet will likely be impacted by materials needed for technical infrastructure like data centers that it uses to power efforts in artificial intelligence. It could also see second-hand effects on advertising pull-back from budget constraints.
In Thursday’s investor call, Alphabet executives said it’s too early to tell just how much it will be impacted, but they said that there would likely be headwinds to its advertising business, particularly from the Asia–Pacific region of the world, or APAC.
“Any other factors you’re seeing in advertising verticals or regions or categories that could be showing any signs of weakness?” asked Brian Nowak of Morgan Stanley.
“We wouldn’t want to speculate about potential impacts beyond noting that the changes to the de minimis exemption will obviously cause a slight headwind to our ads business in 2025, primarily from APAC-based retailers,” said Philipp Schindler, Google’s chief business officer.
Earlier this month, Trump signed an executive order that will impose a duty representing 30% of the value or $25 per item on shipments worth less than $800 that enter the U.S., starting May 2. The duty jumps to $50 per item on June 1. In February, Trump undid a loophole that since the 1930s had allowed such packages to be imported duty-free. The change brought logistical challenges that resulted in a delay of the implementation of the policy.
Retail, which Schindler said was among the top contributors to its advertising growth in the first quarter, represents at least 21% of Google ad revenue, according to estimates by Oppenheimer & Co. Chinese discount e-commerce apps Temu and Shein, which have been big advertisers in the U.S. in recent years, are of notable concern, and Temu has already pulled way back on spending.
“We’re obviously not immune to the macro environment,” Schindler added.
“Are they starting to react to some of these macro jitters that were we’re all experiencing?” asked Ross Sandler from Barclays about brands that advertise on YouTube.
Schindler said “it’s still too early in the second quarter to have a more specific view of things.” He added that Google has “a lot of experience in managing through uncertain times.”
“If macro weakens and we see more of a slowdown, would you expect to find additional opportunities to cut back more on costs?” asked Doug Anmuth from JPMorgan.
Alphabet CFO Anat Ashkenazi said the company is still looking at spending $75 billion in capital expenditures in 2025 but stipulated “the investment level may fluctuate from quarter to quarter due to the impact of changes in the timing of deliveries and construction schedules.”
Expenditures will go toward technical infrastructure, primarily for servers, followed by data centers and networking, executives said in February.
The company is still focused on “driving efficiency and productivity throughout the organization,” Ashkenazi said on Thursday’s call, pointing to her 2024 comments, where she said the organization can “always push a little further” when it comes to cost cutting, which has included cuts to headcount and real estate.
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai also mentioned “efficiency” as a means of trying to keep a lean-enough company to weather potential macro storms.
“If the macro environment were to change and become more downwardly volatile, how should investors think about the investments that are must-make this year, almost fixed in nature, versus where there might be more flexibility?” asked Eric Sheridan from Goldman Sachs.
Pichai responded that the company plans to continue consolidating teams and cutting back on costs elsewhere, which he said “should help us have a more resilient organization, irrespective of macroeconomic conditions.”
The Intel headquarters in Santa Clara, California, US, on Wednesday, April 23, 2025. Intel Corp. is scheduled to release earnings figures on April 24.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Intel CFO David Zinsner said President Donald Trump’s tariffs and retaliation from other countries has increased the likelihood of a recession.
“The very fluid trade policies in the U.S. and beyond, as well as regulatory risks, have increased the chance of an economic slowdown, with the probability of a recession growing,” Zinsner said on the company’s quarterly earnings call on Thursday.
Intel reported better-than-expected first-quarter results, partially because some customers stockpiled chips ahead of tariffs, the company said. However, guidance for revenue and profit was below expectations, pushing the chipmaker’s stock down more than 5% in extended trading.
Intel’s forecast for the current quarter is $11.2 billion to $12.4 billion. Zinsner said the range is “wider than normal” due to uncertainty caused by tariffs.
The company’s outlook underscores how sensitive manufacturers are to trade restrictions, even for companies that are committed to building products in the U.S. While Intel manufactures some of its advanced processors domestically, it also partners with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Samsung in Korea to manufacture chips, and imports chipmaking machinery from ASML in Europe. The company also needs parts and materials that come from China.
Zinsner said the tariff environment makes it harder for Intel to predict its performance for the quarter and the year, and added that it’s now anticipating that the total market for its chips could shrink, especially if consumers stop buying new computers.
“The biggest risk we see is the impact of a potential pullback in investment and spending, as businesses and consumers react to higher costs and the uncertain economic backdrop,” Zinsner said.
Although Intel has enough production in disparate places around the world to mitigate some of the tariffs, the company “will certainly see costs increase,” he added.
One possibility is that consumers may opt for laptops and other computers based around older-generation chips, which are less expensive, said Michelle Johnston Holthaus, CEO of Intel Products.
“The macroeconomic concerns and tariffs have everybody kind of hedging their bets in what they need to have from an inventory perspective,” Holthaus said on the earnings call.
Beyond tariffs, Intel faces efforts by the U.S. government to require licenses to ship advanced chips for artificial intelligence to countries like China.
Intel’s earnings report on Thursday was its first under CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who was appointed to the job last month. Tan said he planned to cut Intel’s operational and capital expenses in order to make the company more efficient.
A Waymo rider-only robotaxi is seen during a test ride in San Francisco, California, U.S., December 9, 2022.
Paresh Dave | Reuters
Alphabet reported Thursday that Waymo, its autonomous vehicle unit, is now delivering more than 250,000 paid robotaxi rides per week in the U.S.
CEO Sundar Pichai said Waymo has options in terms of “business models across geographies,” and the robotaxi company is building partnerships with ride-hailing app Uber, automakers and operations and maintenance businesses that tend to its vehicle fleets.
“We can’t possibly do it all ourselves,” said Pichai on a call with analysts for Alphabet’s first-quarter earnings.
Pichai noted that Waymo has not entirely defined its long-term business model, and there is “future optionality around personal ownership” of vehicles equipped with Waymo’s self-driving technology. The company is also exploring the ways it can scale up its operations, he said.
The 250,000 paid rides per week are up from 200,000 in February, before Waymo opened in Austin and expanded in the San Francisco Bay Area in March.
Waymo, which is part of Alphabet’s Other Bets segment, is already running its commercial, driverless ride-hailing services in the San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Austin regions.
Earlier this month, Waymo and its partner Uber, began allowing interested riders to sign up to try the robotaxi service in Atlanta when it opens this summer.
The early pioneer in self-driving technology, Waymo has managed to beat Elon Musk-led Tesla and a myriad of now-defunct autonomous vehicle startups to the U.S. market.
Tesla is promising that it will be able to turn its Model Y SUVs into robotaxis by the end of June for a driverless ride-hailing service it plans to launch in Austin.
After about a decade of promises and missed deadlines, Tesla still does not offer a vehicle that’s safe to use without a human at the wheel ready to steer or brake at all times.
Musk criticized Waymo’s approach to driverless tech on his company’s first-quarter earnings call on Tuesday. Musk said Waymo autonomous vehicles are “very expensive” and made in only “low volume.” Tesla’s partially automated driving systems rely mostly on cameras to navigate, while Waymo’s driverless systems rely on lidar technology, other sensors and cameras.
Would-be competitors to Waymo also include Amazon-owned Zoox, Mobileye, May Mobility and international autonomous vehicle companies such as WeRide and Baidu’s Apollo Go.