Nvidia's Data Center Business Has Its First $1B Quarter In Q1

Nvidia's data center business hit a new record in the first quarter, the company reported Thursday, achieving more than $1 billion in quarterly sales for the first time. The GPU maker saw data center sales driven by higher vertical industries and hyperscale demand. 

First quarter non-GAAP earnings per share came to $1.80 on revenue of $3.08 billion, up 39 percent from a year earlier. 

Analysts were expecting earnings of $1.68 per share on revenue of $2.98 billion. 

"NVIDIA had an excellent quarter," CEO Jensen Huang said in a statement. "The acquisition of Mellanox expands our cloud and data center opportunity. We raised the bar for AI computing with the launch and shipment of our Ampere GPU. And our digital GTC conference attracted a record number of developers, highlighting the accelerating adoption of NVIDIA GPU computing."

He added, "NVIDIA is well positioned to advance the most powerful technology forces of our time – cloud computing and AI."

The company's Graphics segment revenue for the first quarter was $1.91 billion, up 25 percent from a year earlier. 

Compute & Networking segment revenue for the first quarter was $1.17 billion, up 69 percent from a year ago. 

From a market-platform perspective, Gaming revenue for the first quarter was $1.34 billion, up 27 percent from a year ago. 

Data Center revenue was $1.14 billion, up 80 percent from a year ago and up 18 percent sequentially. 

Professional Visualization revenue in Q1 was $307 million, up 15 percent from a year earlier, reflecting strength in laptop and desktop workstations. 

Automotive revenue was $155 million, down 7 percent a year earlier, primarily reflecting lower legacy infotainment revenue. 

OEM and Other revenue for the first quarter was $138 million, up 39 percent from a year ago. 

Nvidia paid dividends of $98 million in Q1. 

For the second quarter, Nvidia expects revenue of $3.65 billion, plus or minus 2 percent. Mellanox is expected to contribute a low-teens percentage of combined Q2 revenue.