Nvda posts record revenue as Blackwell and networking drive a data‑center surge
nvda reported record fourth‑quarter revenue of $68. 1 billion for the period ended January 25, 2026, and said the jump was driven by a surging data‑center business and expanding networking sales. The results pushed fiscal 2026 revenue to $215. 9 billion and prompted fresh guidance on dividends, accounting and tax expectations for fiscal 2027.
Quarterly totals, margins and earnings per share
fourth‑quarter revenue was $68. 1 billion, up 20% from the prior quarter and up 73% from a year earlier; fiscal 2026 revenue totaled $215. 9 billion, up 65% year‑over‑year. For the quarter, NVIDIA reported GAAP and non‑GAAP gross margins of 75. 0% and 75. 2%, respectively, and GAAP and non‑GAAP earnings per diluted share of $1. 76 and $1. 62. For fiscal 2026, GAAP and non‑GAAP gross margins were 71. 1% and 71. 3%, and GAAP and non‑GAAP EPS were $4. 90 and $4. 77.
Data‑center boom led by Blackwell and Ultra
Data‑center revenue totaled $62 billion in the fourth quarter, a 75% year‑over‑year increase and a 22% sequential gain, driven primarily by Blackwell and the Blackwell Ultra ramp; the company added $11 billion in data‑center revenue versus the prior quarter. On a full‑year basis, data‑center generated $194 billion, up 68% year‑over‑year, and NVIDIA said Grace Blackwell systems represented roughly two‑thirds of data‑center revenue. Executives also noted that Hopper products and much of six‑year‑old Ampere‑based product inventory are sold out in the cloud.
Nvda’s networking surge and NVLink
Networking revenue reached $11 billion in the quarter—more than 3. 5x year‑over‑year—as adoption of NVLink, Spectrum‑X Ethernet and InfiniBand scaled. Management said both scale‑up and scale‑out technologies grew double digits sequentially, with NVLink 72 scale‑up switches a primary driver of year‑over‑year growth. NVIDIA’s CEO described networking as an extension of a rack‑scale AI infrastructure approach and said NVLink “turbocharged” the networking business because of the amount of switching required.
Performance claims and optimizations cited
Third‑party results cited during the quarter highlighted performance‑per‑watt gains: one assessment noted GB300 NVL72 achieved up to 50x performance per watt and 35x lower cost per token compared with Hopper, while ongoing CUDA optimization delivered up to five times better performance on GB200 NVL72 within four months. SemiAnalysis was quoted as calling NVIDIA the “Inference King. ”
Shareholder returns, dividends and accounting changes
During fiscal 2026, NVIDIA returned $41. 1 billion to shareholders through share repurchases and cash dividends, and the company had $58. 5 billion remaining under its share repurchase authorization at the end of the fourth quarter; some summaries rounded the buyback figure to $41 billion. The next quarterly cash dividend will be $0. 01 per share, payable April 1, 2026, to shareholders of record on March 11, 2026. Beginning in the first quarter of fiscal 2027, the company will include stock‑based compensation expense in non‑GAAP financial measures and described stock‑based compensation as a foundational component of its compensation program to attract and retain talent.
Cash flow, guidance and the investor call schedule
Fourth‑quarter free cash flow was $35 billion, contributing to a fiscal‑year free cash flow total of $97 billion. CFO Colette Kress said total revenue rose to $68 billion, up 73% year‑over‑year, and that the company posted record operating income and free cash flow. NVIDIA gave first‑quarter fiscal 2027 revenue guidance of $78 billion plus or minus 2%, a view that assumes no China data‑center compute and expects approximately 75% gross margins. For the full year fiscal 2027, GAAP and non‑GAAP tax rates are expected to be between 17. 0% and 19. 0%, excluding discrete items and material changes to NVIDIA’s tax environment. The company will hold a conference call with analysts and investors at 2 p. m. Pacific time (5 p. m. Eastern time); a live webcast will be accessible on the company’s investor relations site and recorded for replay until the first‑quarter fiscal 2027 earnings call.
“Computing demand is growing exponentially — the agentic AI inflection point has arrived, ” CEO Jensen Huang said, adding that Grace Blackwell with NVLink is the “king of inference” and that Vera Rubin will further extend that leadership. He said enterprise adoption of agents is skyrocketing and customers are racing to invest in AI compute.
