SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Nvidia reported revenue of $96.2 billion for its fiscal second quarter on Wednesday, up 106 percent from a year earlier and 18 percent from the previous quarter, a figure that analysts said they would be glad to discuss in detail as soon as it stopped moving.
The quarter, which ended July 26, was led by the company’s data center business, which reported revenue of $89.0 billion, up 117 percent from a year earlier. The company had guided investors to expect about $91 billion in total revenue. It forecast third-quarter revenue of $108 billion, plus or minus 2 percent, which would be its first quarter above $100 billion. Gross margin was 75.0 percent.
“We got to ’ninety-six point two’ and it was already ninety-six point three,” said Ian Ferraro, a semiconductor analyst at the Halberd Street Research Group, who attempted to read the figure into a recorder for clients at 4:21 p.m. Eastern. “I started over. By the time I got to ‘billion,’ it was a slightly different billion.”
The Reporter monitored the revenue figure on three screens from the moment of its release, using a methodology described in full at the end of this article. At 4:20 p.m., the quarter’s revenue was $96.2 billion. By 5:21 p.m., it was $96.6 billion, plus or minus $0.3 billion, although the quarter had ended 31 days earlier and, by most accounting standards, was not accepting further revenue. Data center revenue, which made up 92.52 percent of the total at release, made up 92.71 percent of it an hour later, plus or minus 0.11 percentage points, and appeared to be absorbing the remainder at a steady rate. At 6:04 p.m., the figure for the year-earlier quarter, which had been stable since 2025, was observed to have shrunk slightly, apparently in embarrassment.
Dr. Marjorie Teller, director of the Center for Measured Outcomes, described the phenomenon as “retroactive momentum.” “The quarter is over, but the demand is not, and the demand does not appear to have been informed,” Teller said. “We have placed a measuring tape across the number and are checking it hourly. Further study is needed.” The Center has applied for funding to continue the study through the third quarter, provided the second one allows it.
Dr. Chad Brickhouse, a senior fellow at the Institute for Common Sense, said the outcome was predictable. “Everybody wants the chips. When everybody wants something, the number goes up,” Brickhouse said by phone from a bowling alley. “We ran the numbers, and the numbers agreed with me, and then they kept going.” The call was briefly interrupted by what Brickhouse described as a strike, then by what he described as a second, separate strike, in the next lane.
At the current rate of drift, the Reporter’s data desk estimates that the second quarter will reach the company’s $108 billion third-quarter forecast on or about Sept. 12, plus or minus one quarter, which would place it in the unusual position of finishing the third quarter before the third quarter.
Methodology: The Reporter observed the revenue figure on three monitors and one printed copy of the earnings release, which was weighed at 4:20 p.m. (11.2 grams) and again at 5:21 p.m. (11.4 grams). The margin of error is plus or minus 0.2 grams.