NVIDIA delivered another huge earnings win after the chip giant reported stronger-than-expected revenue growth driven by the global race to build artificial intelligence infrastructure. The company posted record financial results for the first quarter of 2026, showing that demand for AI chips and datacenter technology remains extremely strong across the tech industry. Nvidia said its quarterly revenue climbed to $81.62bn. That figure easily passed Wall Street expectations of $78.86bn. The company also reported earnings of $1.87 per share, beating analyst forecasts of $1.76 per share. The results gave investors fresh confidence that the AI boom is still expanding at a rapid pace. Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang said the world is now entering a major new era of AI growth. “The buildout of AI factories is accelerating at extraordinary speed,” Huang said in a company statement. He added that so-called “agentic AI” systems are now doing productive work and creating real business value across industries. Many analysts see Nvidia as one of the most important companies in the global AI market. The company has become the main supplier of advanced chips used to power AI systems, cloud computing services, and massive datacenters. Nvidia is now the world’s most valuable company with a market value of about $5.4tn. Large technology firms continue to spend heavily on AI expansion. Industry estimates show major US tech companies could spend around $750bn this year on AI infrastructure alone. A large share of that money is expected to go toward Nvidia chips and related technology. The company’s datacenter division remained the biggest growth driver. Nvidia reported that datacenter revenue jumped 92% compared with the same period last year. That business alone generated a record $75.2bn during the quarter. The rapid growth highlights how companies worldwide are racing to expand AI computing power. At the same time, Nvidia faces growing competition from major technology firms including Amazon and Google, which are developing their own AI chips. Still, Nvidia continues to dominate the high-end AI semiconductor market. The company also remains focused on expanding its international reach. Last week, Huang joined Elon Musk and Donald Trump during a trip to China aboard Air Force One. Huang has expressed hope that Nvidia can grow its business in China despite ongoing uncertainty around US-China technology restrictions. The company previously received approval from the Trump administration to export H200 AI chips to China under special rules. The US government would collect a 25% fee from those sales. However, Nvidia executives said the company has still not generated revenue from those exports. Nvidia chief financial officer Colette Kress told investors that it remains unclear whether Chinese imports of those chips will move forward. Trump has claimed that Chinese president Xi Jinping blocked the sales despite US approval. Nvidia also continues to expand in other global markets. On Wednesday, officials in Singapore announced that Nvidia will launch a new research hub in the country. The center will focus on improving the efficiency of AI infrastructure systems. The company is also preparing for the next stage of AI hardware development. Earlier this year, Nvidia introduced its new Vera Rubin AI platform. The company expects the system to launch during the second half of 2026. Nvidia says the new platform could deliver a major leap in AI computing performance. Huang described the technology as part of the “greatest infrastructure buildout in history”. He also warned that demand may remain higher than supply for a long time. “My sense is we will be supply-constrained throughout the entire life of Vera Rubin,” Huang said during the earnings call. The fast growth of AI systems has increased demand for Nvidia hardware across industries ranging from finance and healthcare to robotics and software development. Leaders from major AI companies have also praised Nvidia’s role in supporting advanced AI models. Executives at OpenAI and Anthropic have both said Nvidia’s infrastructure is critical for running powerful AI systems safely and at large scale. Huang said the world is now rebuilding computing systems around AI and robotics. He added that Nvidia remains at the center of this major technological shift.