What is data center revenue?

Data center revenue is money earned from selling products or services to data center operators. What that means varies by company:Chip companies (Nvidia, AMD, Broadcom): revenue from selling GPUs, CPUs, and networking hardwareServer hardware companies (IBM, Intel): revenue (mainly) from selling servers and related softwareCloud operators (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud): fees charged to businesses for using computing capacity

How do data centers make money?

There are three main business models:Cloud providers charge businesses for compute, storage, and networking on a usage- or subscription-based model.Co-location facilities charge customers to physically house their own servers in a managed environment.Hardware suppliers sell the chips and servers that data centers run on. AI chips are especially valuable – high-end GPU accelerators can cost tens of thousands of dollars per unit.

What is the biggest data center company?

It depends on the category:Largest data center hardware supplier: Nvidia, with $75.2 billion in data center revenue in a single quarterLargest data center cloud operator: Amazon Web Services, with approximately $128.7 billion in annual cloud revenueLargest data center colocation REIT: Equinix (NASDAQ: EQIX), followed by Digital Realty (NYSE: DLR)

What are data center stocks and AI data center stocks?

Data center stocks are publicly traded companies whose revenue is substantially tied to data center infrastructure. They fall into three categories:AI chip suppliers: Nvidia, Broadcom, AMD, and IntelCloud operators: Amazon, Microsoft, and AlphabetData center REITs: Equinix and Digital Realty

How Much Data Center Revenue Do AI Companies Bring In?

Several companies are cashing in on the billions in spending that are defining the AI era.

By Lyle Daly – Updated Jun 10, 2026 at 9:22 AM EST | Fact-checked by Frank Bass

Key Points

Nvidia's Q1 FY2027 data center revenue hit $75.2B, up 92% due to high demand for AI chips.
Broadcom's Q2 FY2026 AI chip revenue soared to $10.8B, predicting a 200% growth next quarter.
Cloud giants like AWS spent $43.2B in Q1 2026, part of planned $700B+ capex for AI infrastructure.

Nvidia (NVDA -1.97%) reported $75.2 billion in data center revenue for its fiscal first quarter of 2027, up 92% year over year. Since the start of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, Nvidia has captured the largest share of chip spending.

However, the largest technology companies are spending at levels that far exceed any previous build-out in the industry’s history, and that spending flows directly into the revenue of several notable AI stocks.

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AI data center revenue

Data center revenue can be measured in two groups of companies:

AI chip and hardware suppliers that make and sell the equipment data centers run on.
Cloud operators, which build and operate data centers and sell access to computing capacity.

Their revenue models are distinct, and the figures aren’t directly comparable.

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Revenue reflects each company's reported data center or AI hardware segment. Nvidia and Broadcom figures are on different fiscal-year calendars than the others. Cloud services revenue reflects fees charged to businesses for computing capacity. This is not directly comparable to chip segment revenue.

AI chip and hardware suppliers: Revenue by company

Five companies account for the bulk of AI chip and data center hardware revenue, predominantly semiconductor sales: Nvidia, Broadcom (AVGO -0.97%), AMD (AMD -0.66%), Intel (INTC -2.00%), and IBM (NASDAQ:IBM).

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Nvidia

Nvidia’s data center segment generated $75.2 billion in its Q1 FY2027, up 92% year over year, driven by massive demand for its Blackwell graphics processing units (GPUs).
Full-year 2025 data center revenue was $193.7 billion.
AI cloud, industrial, and enterprise (ACIE) revenue grew 31% quarter over quarter to $37 billion compared with 12% hyperscaler revenue growth, showing that enterprise and sovereign AI demand is growing.

Broadcom

Broadcom's AI semiconductor revenue reached $10.8 billion in Q2 FY2026, up 143% year over year. Guidance for AI semiconductor revenue in Q3 FY2026 is $16.0 billion, which would be more than 200% year-over-year growth.
Full-year FY2025 AI semiconductor revenue was $20 billion, up 65% year over year.
Broadcom is the second-largest AI semiconductor supplier by revenue. It builds custom AI accelerators, XPUs, for specific hyperscalers rather than selling GPUs broadly.

AMD

AMD’s Q1 2026 data center revenue was $5.8 billion, up 57% year over year.
Full-year data center revenue in 2025 was $16.6 billion.
AMD produces CPUs for cloud and enterprise services and AI GPUs for AI training and inference.

Intel

Intel’s data center and AI (DCAI) revenue in Q1 2026 was $5.1 billion, up 22% year over year.
Its full-year DCAI revenue in 2025 was $16.9 billion.
The U.S. government invested $8.9 billion in Intel in August 2025.

IBM

IBM’s Q1 2026 data center revenue was $3.3 billion, up 15% year over year.
Its 2025 data center revenue was $15.7 billion.
IBM does not compete in AI GPUs or cloud-scale chips, as its AI data center revenue comes primarily from hardware: Power servers and Z-series mainframes.

The most recent quarterly data shows that AI chip demand remains strong. Semiconductor revenue continues to increase significantly, with all the major suppliers reporting double- or triple-digit year-over-year revenue growth.

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Cloud operator data center revenue: AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud

Chip suppliers sell to the data center market, which are driven by hyperscalers. Amazon (AMZN -0.91%) Web Services (AWS), Microsoft (MSFT -1.67%) Azure, and Alphabet’s (GOOG -2.17%) Google Cloud are the largest buyers of AI chips and the primary cloud operators that provide AI computing capacity.

Their AI data center cloud revenue is not directly comparable to data center revenue from chip companies -- it reflects what businesses pay to use infrastructure, not the cost to build it. Both figures describe revenue measured at different points of the AI supply chain.

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Amazon Web Services

AWS Q1 2026 cloud revenue was approximately $37.6 billion, up 28% year over year.
Full-year 2025 cloud revenue was approximately $128.7 billion.
Amazon reported $43.2 billion in capital expenditures in Q1 2026, primarily allocated to AWS and AI infrastructure. It didn't provide full-year guidance in its most recent quarter, but it previously estimated $200 billion in 2026 capex spending.

Microsoft Azure

Microsoft's Intelligent Cloud segment reported $34.7 billion in Q3 FY2026, growing 30% year over year.
Full FY2025 Intelligent Cloud revenue was approximately $106.3 billion.
Capital expenditures hit $31.9 billion in Q3 2026, and Microsoft expects to spend $190 billion in capex for its full 2026 fiscal year.

Google Cloud

Google Cloud Q1 2026 revenue was $20.0 billion, up 63% year over year, the fastest growth rate among the three major providers.
Full-year 2025 cloud revenue was approximately $59 billion.
Google increased its 2026 capital expenditure guidance to between $180 billion and $190 billion in April 2026.

Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Meta Platforms (META -2.79%) are the four largest hyperscalers, and they collectively plan capital expenditures of more than $700 billion in 2026.

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What is next for data center revenue?

Forward guidance points to continued growth in data center revenue and infrastructure spending. For example:

Nvidia guided for total revenue of $91 billion for Q2 FY2027. Vera Rubin platform production shipments begin in Q3 FY2027.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the company has visibility to $1 trillion in Blackwell and Vera Rubin sales from 2025 through calendar 2027.
Broadcom expects AI chip sales to more than double year over year in Q3 FY2026, reaching $16.0 billion.
AMD projects more than 60% annual data center segment growth over the next several years.
The biggest hyperscalers are collectively planning capital expenditures of more than $700 billion in 2026.
Goldman Sachs (GS -2.67%) projects that total hyperscaler capital expenditure from 2025 through 2027 will reach $1.4 trillion.

That said, there are threats to AI data center revenue. Models are becoming more capable per dollar of compute. If efficiency gains outpace demand growth, infrastructure spending could moderate. Historically, cheaper compute has expanded total usage rather than replacing it, but that is not guaranteed.

Hyperscalers are also spending at historically high levels relative to operating cash flows. If AI services revenue does not grow fast enough to justify the investment, capital expenditure plans could be revised downward, reducing demand for chip suppliers.

Companies could pull back on data center spending in the future, but at the moment, the data indicates that revenues will keep increasing.

FAQs

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Sources

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AMD (2026). "AMD Reports First Quarter 2026 Financial Results."
Alphabet (2026). "Alphabt Announces First Quarter 2026 Results."
Alphabet (2026). "Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2025 Results."
Amazon (2026). "Amazon.com Announces First Quarter Results."
Amazon (2026). "Amazon.com Announces Fourth Quarter Results."
Broadcom (2025). "Broadcom Inc. Announces First Quarter Fiscal Year 2025 Financial Results and Quarterly Dividend."
Broadcom (2025). "Broadcom Inc. Announces Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2025 Financial Results and Quarterly Dividend."
Broadcom (2025). "Broadcom Inc. Announces Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2025 Financial Results and Quarterly Dividend."
Broadcom (2025). "Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2025 Financial Results."
Broadcom (2026). "First Quarter Fiscal Year 2026 Financial Results."
Broadcom (2025). “Broadcom (AVGO) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript.”
Broadcom (2026). "Broadcom Inc. Announces Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2026 Financial Results and Quarterly Dividend."
Goldman Sachs (2025). "AI: In a Bubble?"
IBM (2026). "IBM Releases Fourth-Quarter Results."
IBM (2026). "IBM Releases First-Quarter Results."
Intel (2026). "Intel Reports Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year 2025 Financial Results."
Intel (2026). "Intel Reports First-Quarter 2026 Financial Results."
Microsoft (2025). "Earnings Release FY25 Q4."
Microsoft (2026). "Earnings Release FY26 Q3."
Nvidia (2026). "Nvidia Announces Financial Results for First Quarter Fiscal 2027."
Nvidia (2026). "NVIDIA Announces Financial Results for Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2026."

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About the Author

Lyle Daly is a contributing Motley Fool stock market analyst covering information technology and cryptocurrency. Lyle has been a contributor at the financial services company since 2018. His work has been featured on USA Today, Yahoo Finance, MSN, Fox Business, and Nasdaq. Before joining The Motley Fool, he wrote for financial brands including Intuit.

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Lyle Daly has positions in Alphabet, Broadcom, Meta Platforms, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Alphabet, Amazon, Broadcom, Goldman Sachs Group, Intel, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Data Center Revenue: Nvidia Made More in One Quarter Than AMD, Intel, and IBM in a Year

Several companies are cashing in on the billions in spending that are defining the AI era.

Key Points

AI data center revenue