(Bloomberg) — Nvidia Corp., the largest U.S. chipmaker by market value, topped Wall Street estimates with its latest results and gave a rosy forecast, but warned that its bid to acquire Arm Ltd. is taking longer than expected.
Revenue in the current quarter will be about $6.8 billion, the Santa Clara, California-based company said late Wednesday. That compares with a $6.54 billion average analyst estimate, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Nvidia reported sales of $6.51 billion in the second quarter, topping the $6.33 billion prediction. Earnings came in at $1.04 a share, excluding some items, compared with an estimate of $1.01.
The shares climbed more than 2.4% to $195 in late trading after the results were posted. They were up 46% this year through Wednesday’s close.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang has built the once-niche chipmaker into an industry giant by winning orders for his products outside of their gamer-PC base. The company has reported average revenue growth of 55% over the last six quarters. That’s helped propel its market valuation to nearly half a trillion dollars.
Nvidia’s data center unit had sales of $2.37 billion in the quarter, up 35% from a year earlier. Gaming-related revenue jumped 85% to $3.06 billion.
So-called CMP chips — designed specifically for cryptocurrency miners — generated revenue of $266 million in the quarter, lower than the company had forecast.
Meanwhile, Nvidia’s plan to use the Arm deal to expand further faces challenges. After Nvidia agreed to acquire Arm from Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. last year, the transaction has met with regulatory opposition. Some other companies in the chip industry also have voiced concerns about the deal, but Nvidia said Wednesday that it was pushing ahead with it.
“Although some Arm licensees have expressed concerns or objected to the transaction, and discussions with regulators are taking longer than initially thought, we are confident in the deal and that regulators should recognize the benefits of the acquisition to Arm, its licensees, and the industry,” the company said.
Bloomberg reported earlier this month that the U.K. was considering blocking the takeover due to potential national-security risks. It wasn’t clear how Arm changing from Japanese to American ownership would affect U.K. national security, but there have been broader concerns about Arm’s ability to stay neutral if it’s acquired by Nvidia.
Arm sells its chip designs to many of the world’s biggest technology companies, including makers of smartphones, factory equipment and cars.
(Updates with business-unit performance in sixth paragraph.)
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