Nvidia's top executives said potential tariffs and export controls on President Trump's powerful computer chips remain “unknown.”
Nvidia's shares were above 4% on Thursday morning as investors digested mixed outlook from CEO Jensen Huang's company in its fourth quarter earnings report.
Wall Street is worried about macroeconomic factors as Trump strengthens pressure on China. Nvidia CFO Colleen Kress acknowledged the uncertainty during his call with the analyst.
“Customers, at this point, it's a bit unknown,” Cress said. “It's unknown until we understand more about what the US government's plan is, when it is, 'where' and how much it is. So, at this point we are waiting, but of course, we will always follow export controls and customs duties in that way. ”
Revenue and revenue have exceeded expectations, but skeptics pointed to a slight downtick in margin as Nvidia increased production of new Blackwell AI chips. Revenues rose 78% to $39.33 billion, but as Nvidia grew, growth slowed slightly from its heated pace.
Nvidia forecasts revenue of $43 billion for the current quarter. This was higher than the consensus estimate, but it still seemed to rattle some analysts. Edward Jones analyst Logan Park described the guidance as “slightly overwhelming.”
In a Truth Social post on Thursday morning, Trump said he would impose an additional 10% tariff on China, in addition to the 10% tariffs already facing imports. Tariffs on Mexico and Canada will come into effect on March 4th.
In addition to uncertainty, the president previously raised the potential “more than 25%” tariffs on computer chips.
Nvidia fell alongside the high-tech Nasdaq Composite Index. This was down about 200 points or 1% in early trading.
Nvidia is a leading supplier of cutting-edge AI chips, with Microsoft-backed Openai and Elon Musk's Xai being among its clients.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said Nvidia's results suggest that the “AI Revolutionary Paper” remains “solid” despite market uncertainty. He reiterated the view that Nvidia will reach a market capitalization of $4 trillion this year.
“Are you worried about Trump's tariffs, export controls and other macro factors? Of course, Ives said in a note to his client.
“But our view will ultimately be worse than the bite of Chinese tariff/export controls. This is all high stakes poker games to promote deals with China at the negotiation table in 2025,” Ives added.
Huang told analysts that demand for Blackwell Chips was “extraordinary” and predicted a big deal for AI development.
“We're just at the beginning of the AI age… we'll grow strong in 2025,” he said.
Top Trump administration officials have suggested that the country could step up export controls. This limits China's access to the Nvidia Best chips needed to train and power advanced AI chatbots.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick picked out Nvidia's role in China's rapid advances in AI at a confirmation hearing last month. It freed the high-tech sector by claiming that Chinese company Deepseek had developed a powerful model for under $6 million.
“Nvidia's chips have driven the Deepseek model by buying a lot, finding their way, and that has to be over,” Rutnick said.
