FirstFT: Nvidia exceeds expectations as quarterly revenues jump 265%

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Nvidia revenues soared 265 per cent to $22.1bn in the fourth quarter as the world’s most valuable chip company benefited from a spending frenzy on artificial intelligence.

The California-based company’s revenue performance far exceeded Wall Street expectations of $20.4bn. Nvidia said it expected revenues for the current quarter to be even higher at $24bn.

“Accelerated computing and generative AI have hit the tipping point,” said Nvidia founder and chief executive Jensen Huang. “Demand is surging worldwide across companies, industries and nations.”

Nvidia’s data centre division is its largest driver of sales, increasing revenue in the last quarter by 409 per cent to $18.4bn compared with the previous year. Read more on how the world’s most valuable chip company beat expectations with AI.

Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:

• EU monetary policy: The European Central Bank publishes minutes from its last policy discussions, with an overview of the financial market and economic situation.

• Economic data: S&P Global/HCOB flash purchasing managers’ indices for the EU, the UK, the US, Germany and France are announced. Consumer price figures are due from the EU and Italy.

• UK conservatism: Former prime minister Liz Truss speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.

• Lunar landing: Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 lunar lander, the first privately financed mission to the Moon, is scheduled to land on the lunar surface today.

• Results: Anglo American, Danone, Hargreaves Lansdown, Lloyds Banking Group, Mercedes-Benz, Mondi, Nestlé, Pantheon International, Rolls-Royce, Telefónica and WPP report.

The FT has launched its new US Election Countdown newsletter. Join the FT’s Washington reporter Steff Chávez for your essential guide to the twists and turns of the most significant election in decades. Sign up here.

Five more top stories

1. A House of Commons vote on the Israel-Hamas war descended into chaos yesterday night as Conservative and Scottish National party MPs walked out of the chamber, accusing the Speaker of siding with Labour on the selection of the ceasefire amendment. Read more on how the chaotic Gaza vote unfolded in the British parliament.

• Opinion: The talks that aim to secure the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas test the diplomatic heft of the US, writes the FT’s Middle East editor Andrew England. 

2. Mondelez’s chief executive said investors did not “morally care” whether companies continue to do business in Russia, and that shareholders had not pressured the chocolate maker to leave the country after its invasion of Ukraine. Among Mondelez’s largest shareholders are Vanguard, BlackRock and Capital Group. Here’s what else Dirk Van de Put told the Financial Times in his interview.

3. Two of Goldman Sachs’s top investment bankers have threatened to quit after being excluded from a new operating committee established under chief executive David Solomon, according to people familiar with the matter. If Mark Sorrell and Gonzalo Garcia leave, they would be the latest high-profile departures under Solomon, who has been chief executive since 2018. Find out why that committee membership is so consequential.

4. Financial markets are falling into line with the Federal Reserve’s outlook for US interest rates, as stubborn inflation data forces investors to relinquish their aggressive bets on extensive cuts this year. This month traders have slashed their bets on the number of times the Fed will cut rates in 2024 and have also pushed back their expectations of when those cuts will begin.

5. The London Stock Exchange Group is canvassing shareholders to approve a pay package for its chief executive. LSEG is using US financial data companies such as index provider S&P Global and research and ratings company Moody’s as benchmarks for David Schwimmer’s pay. Here’s how much Schwimmer’s salary would increase if the package is approved.

The Big Read

As thousands of wind turbines in Europe near retirement, owners of ageing wind power infrastructure must decide whether to invest in upgrades or walk away from a vital source of clean energy. Their decisions will help determine how much progress the EU makes towards its net zero goal.

We’re also reading and listening to . . . 

Chart of the day

Steering the UK economy out of the inflationary storm would always require unusual finesse, but deeply flawed labour market data from the Office for National Statistics has left the Bank of England unsure of even basic questions such as the level of unemployment.

Take a break from the news

The increasingly authoritarian atmosphere inside Russia has lowered the bar for who is deemed a target of state-sponsored poisonings. Now, any Russian critical of President Vladimir Putin or his invasion of Ukraine, even those who may not be considered high-profile enough, is a potential enemy. In this week’s FT Magazine cover, Russian activist Natalia Arno narrates her suspected poisoning experience in Prague in May 2023.

Additional contributions from Benjamin Wilhelm and Gordon Smith