The shares of the chip-making giant NVIDIA surged more than 26% in Wednesday’s after-hours trading upon the release of the company’s first-quarter earnings report. The firm, whose stock has been surging on AI-fueled optimism since the start of the year, managed to decisively beat analysts’ expectations both with earnings and revenue.

NVIDIA Publishes Its Q1 Earnings Report

On May 24th, the chip maker NVIDIA published its earnings report for the first quarter of 2023. The report managed to significantly beat estimates in multiple categories. NVIDIA’s revenue for the period amounted to $7.19 billion compared to the expected $6.52 billion.

Additionally, the chip maker’s Data Center revenue came in at $4.28 million instead of the forecast $3.9 billion. The company’s earnings and earnings per share were similarly impressive beating the expected $0.92 and amounting to $1.09.

The impressive first-quarter results follow a lukewarm performance throughout 2022 which saw its share price drop repeatedly on decreasing revenue. In stark contrast, NVIDIA’s stock rose by more than 26% up to around $380 after the Q1 report on Wednesday.

NVIDIA’s 2023 Rally Largely Driven by AI Enthusiasm

NVIDIA’s steady rise since the start of 2023 has been largely driven by the firm’s prime position to provide chips for various artificial intelligence companies. As a result of the enthusiasm stemming from the successful launch of ChatGPT late last year, the chip maker’s stock is up more than 113% year-to-date.

Artificial intelligence has, overall, drawn much attention over the previous months drawing both praise and criticism. Perhaps the most notable critic of the current way AI is handled has been Elon Musk who even called for a pause in the development of the technology several months ago.

On the other hand, despite AI becoming the new darling of venture capital largely overshadowing digital assets, the cryptocurrency industry has proven highly enthusiastic about the possibilities it offers. Multiple firms from the industry have already sought ways to utilize it and Solana became the first layer 1 blockchain to integrate artificial intelligence earlier this week.

This article originally appeared on The Tokenist

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