Nvidia (NVDA +1.30%) has wowed investors quarter after quarter with its revenue growth during this artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company, as the dominant AI chip player worldwide, has seen demand soar as customers expand cloud infrastructure and put AI models to work.
How has Nvidia remained ahead of rivals? The tech giant was first to market with its powerful graphics processing units (GPUs) designed specifically for AI, and that set it a step ahead from the start. But, importantly, Nvidia has been updating its systems annually, making it very difficult for competitors to catch up.
As a result of Nvidia's AI work so far, revenue soared 65% in the recent full year to reach $215 billion. Now, at this stage of the AI boom, it's reasonable to wonder what's next for revenue growth. Nvidia chief Jensen Huang has suggested it's on the way to $1 trillion in the near future, and just last week, he said something particularly astounding about the company's revenue potential...
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Nvidia's revenue explodes higher
So, first, let's consider the revenue path so far. As mentioned, Nvidia has significantly increased revenue as companies put the focus on AI. A striking example is the chip giant's progress from three years ago to today. Back then, annual revenue was $27 billion, less than today's quarterly figure -- in the latest quarter, Nvidia reported $68 billion in revenue.
This is because companies have turned to Nvidia for its top-performing GPUs, critical tools needed for the training of AI models. And then, as Nvidia expanded its offerings into networking, enterprise software, and more, customers' orders expanded too. Today, Nvidia offers complete systems, and as it upgrades its chips, customers may build out their current Nvidia platforms -- and this creates a growing Nvidia presence within data centers.
Nvidia aims to launch its next system, Vera Rubin, later this year and is already in full production. During Nvidia's recent GTC conference, Huang lifted his earlier revenue estimate for Blackwell and Rubin system sales from last year through 2027 from $500 million to $1 trillion.
Now, let's consider what the Nvidia CEO said during a podcast last week with Lex Fridman, about Nvidia's revenue path from here:
"Is it possible for Nvidia to be a, you know, $3 trillion revenue company in the near future?" Huang said. "The answer is, of course, yes. And the reason for that is because it's not limited by any physical limits."
NASDAQ: NVDA
Key Data Points
Creating opportunities
Huang said that Nvidia isn't in the business of taking market share from other companies in an existing space -- instead, Nvidia's revenue level will be determined by the opportunity the chip leader creates.
For example, Nvidia is bringing AI platforms into various industries, such as healthcare and telecom, and establishing its presence there, so that these players will use Nvidia's AI systems to gain efficiency and boost innovation. And Nvidia should play a key role in the actual application of AI to real-world problems, as these problem-solving machines need compute not just for training -- but also as they "think through" questions and do their jobs. All of this expands Nvidia's revenue opportunity.
Of course, Nvidia faces competition from other chip designers and even certain customers, as they have designed some of their own chips. The keyword here, though, is "some" -- these companies, such as Amazon and Meta Platforms, haven't suggested that their chips are aiming to replace those of Nvidia. And Nvidia's complete ecosystem and well-established presence in data centers worldwide, as well as the company's pledge to update chips annually, should keep it in the leading position.
All of this suggests that, with AI just starting to roll out in the real world, Nvidia's revenue growth is far from over -- and as Jensen Huang suggests, the company may even be on the path to $3 trillion.
