Nvidia Defies AI Skepticism with Record Revenue, Faces Investor Jitters

Despite growing investor concerns about the sustainability of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, Nvidia reported record annual revenue of $215.9 billion (£159.1 billion) and exceeded analyst expectations. The company’s success underscores its central role in the AI infrastructure buildout, but investor skepticism persists.

Nvidia’s Financial Performance

Nvidia’s revenue for the last three months of its financial year jumped 73% compared to the same period a year earlier, demonstrating continued strong demand for its AI chips. CEO Jensen Huang stated, “Computing demand is growing exponentially,” and emphasized that customers are “racing to invest in AI compute – the factories powering the AI industrial revolution and their future growth.” Source

As of February 26, 2026, Nvidia is the world’s most valuable publicly-traded company, with a stock market value of approximately $4.8 trillion. Source

Central Role in AI Infrastructure

Nvidia has become a critical provider of sophisticated chips to leading AI model developers, including OpenAI and Meta. Gene Munster, managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, believes that the AI buildout will continue for a long time, stating, “AI is accelerating faster than people not using these tools can grasp.” Source

Investor Concerns and Scrutiny

Despite the impressive financial results, investors remain cautious. Concerns center around the massive amounts of money being spent on AI technology and whether this investment is justified. Some critics have raised the possibility of “circular financing” deals, where Nvidia’s investments in other companies may be artificially inflating perceptions of AI demand. Source

The Fresh York Times reported on February 26, 2026, that Nvidia’s strong earnings report did not alleviate investor jitters. Source

Nvidia’s Expansion Through Acquisition

In December 2025, Nvidia announced its largest acquisition to date, agreeing to acquire assets from AI chip startup Groq for approximately $20 billion in cash. Groq was founded by creators of Google’s tensor processing unit (TPU), a competitor to Nvidia in the AI workload space. Source The deal involves a non-exclusive licensing agreement for Groq’s inference technology, with Groq’s CEO and other senior leaders joining Nvidia. Source

Geopolitical Considerations

Nvidia continues to navigate a complex geopolitical landscape, including recent US approval for the sale of its advanced AI chips to China. Source