NVIDIA CORP (NVDA)·Q4 2025 Earnings Summary

Executive Summary

• NVIDIA delivered record Q4 FY25 revenue of $39.3B, up 12% q/q and 78% y/y, with GAAP and non-GAAP diluted EPS of $0.89; Data Center revenue hit a record $35.6B, up 16% q/q and 93% y/y .
• Management guided Q1 FY26 revenue to $43.0B ±2% with GAAP/Non-GAAP GM at 70.6%/71.0% ±50bps, and expects both Data Center and Gaming to grow sequentially; gross margin is expected to return to mid-70s later in FY26 as Blackwell costs normalize .
• The quarter was propelled by a faster-than-expected Blackwell ramp ($11.0B revenue in Q4, “fastest product ramp” in company history), while Gaming declined on supply constraints; Networking dipped slightly as the company transitions from NVLink 8/InfiniBand to NVLink 72/Spectrum‑X .
• Estimates context: S&P Global Wall Street consensus could not be retrieved due to rate-limit constraints; based on company guidance, NVIDIA materially exceeded its prior Q4 revenue outlook of $37.5B .
• Catalysts: strong Q1 guide, accelerating Blackwell adoption and reasoning AI narrative, expected networking growth in Q1, and management’s confidence in margin normalization to mid-70s later this fiscal year .

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

• What Went Well

  • Record Data Center revenue ($35.6B) on Blackwell ramp and accelerating inference workloads; “We delivered $11.0B of Blackwell architecture revenue in the fourth quarter… fastest product ramp in our company’s history” .
  • Broad customer adoption across hyperscalers (Azure, AWS, GCP, OCI) and enterprises; early GB200 deployments earmarked for inference; “up to 25x higher token throughput and 20x lower cost vs Hopper 100” for reasoning models .
  • Strong Automotive momentum ($570M, +27% q/q, +103% y/y) with marquee wins at Toyota, Hyundai and autonomous deployments; ProViz up 5% q/q, 10% y/y .

• What Went Wrong

  • Gross margin compressed to 73.0% GAAP (73.5% non-GAAP), down 150–160bps q/q, primarily due to more complex/higher-cost Data Center systems during Blackwell ramp .
  • Gaming revenue fell to $2.5B, down 22% q/q and 11% y/y, driven by supply constraints despite healthy demand; management expects recovery as supply improves .
  • Networking declined 3% q/q and 9% y/y as the company transitions architectures (NVLink 8/InfiniBand to NVLink 72/Spectrum-X), though management expects networking to return to growth in Q1 .

Financial Results

Segment and Platform Breakdown

KPIs

Estimates vs Actuals (consensus unavailable)

Note: S&P Global Wall Street consensus estimates were unavailable due to rate-limit constraints.

Guidance Changes

Earnings Call Themes & Trends

Management Commentary

• CEO Jensen Huang: “Demand for Blackwell is amazing as reasoning AI adds another scaling law… We’ve successfully ramped up the massive-scale production of Blackwell AI supercomputers, achieving billions of dollars in sales in its first quarter” .
• CFO Colette Kress: “During our Blackwell ramp, our gross margins will be in the low 70s… when fully ramped… gross margin will improve and return to the mid‑70s, late this fiscal year” .
• CFO (CFO Commentary): “Data Center compute revenue was $32.6B, up 116% y/y and up 18% q/q… Networking revenue was $3.0B, down 9% y/y and down 3% q/q… We delivered $11.0B of Blackwell architecture revenue” .

Q&A Highlights

• Inference vs training and reasoning AI: Management emphasized three scaling laws—pretraining, post-training, and inference-time scaling—driving significantly higher compute needs; Blackwell was designed for reasoning models with 25x higher token throughput vs H100 .
• Blackwell ramp and systems complexity: Ramp progressing strongly despite complexity (NVLink 72, liquid/air-cooled options); 350 plants producing 1.5M components per rack; customers anxious for systems; ramp measured in billions .
• Gross margin trajectory: Low-70s expected during Blackwell ramp with improvement to mid-70s later in fiscal year; Q1 likely bottom; tariff impacts uncertain .
• Networking and Spectrum-X: Sequential decline in Q4, but attached networking >75% in GPU systems; transitioning to NVLink 72 & Spectrum-X; expected to return to growth in Q1 .
• Geography and China: Strong U.S. growth; China shipments stable at a lower percentage post export controls; company will comply with any new regulations/tariffs .

Estimates Context

• S&P Global Wall Street consensus (EPS and revenue) was unavailable due to rate-limit constraints. Values could not be retrieved at this time.
• Relative to company guidance issued at Q3, Q4 revenue of $39.331B was above the $37.5B ±2% outlook; gross margins landed at the guided 73.0%/73.5% GAAP/non-GAAP .

Key Takeaways for Investors

• The Blackwell ramp is the primary growth driver: $11B in Q4 with accelerating inference adoption and strong hyperscaler demand; expect sequential Data Center growth in Q1 .
• Near-term margin pressure is transitory: gross margin in low-70s during ramp, with management targeting a return to mid-70s later in FY26 as costs normalize and configurations mature .
• Networking mix shift is underway: short-term headwind as NVLink 72/Spectrum‑X expands; management expects networking to resume growth in Q1 .
• Gaming softness reflects supply constraints rather than demand; management expects sequential recovery in Q1 as supply improves .
• Balance sheet supports execution: cash & marketable securities rose to $43.2B; OCF robust at $16.6B despite AR/inventory build to support Blackwell ramp .
• Strong Q1 guide ($43B) is a positive near-term catalyst, alongside narratives around reasoning AI, agentic AI, and sovereign AI build-outs; monitoring tariffs/china exposure remains prudent .
• Watch cadence: Blackwell Ultra in 2H and Vera Rubin thereafter; annual road map drives perf/watt gains and lowers AI costs—supportive of sustained AI capex cycles .