US chip designer Nvidia forecasts Q3 rev above target, shares soar

Chip designer Nvidia has forecast third-quarter revenue above Wall Street targets and said it will buy back $25bn more of its shares as sales benefit from soaring demand for its chips that power nearly all the world's major artificial intelligence apps. Shares of the Santa Clara, California-based company rose 8 percent in trading after the bell, hitting an all-time high. Nvidia's forecast on Wednesday beat expectations by billions of dollars, demonstrating that a boom in generative AI technologies that can read and write in human-like ways – and powered almost exclusively by Nvidia's chips – shows no signs of slowing down. Nvidia's additional $25bn in share repurchases come as shares have already tripled this year, making the company the first-ever trillion-dollar chip business as investors bet Nvidia will be the key beneficiary of the AI boom. Analysts have estimated that demand for Nvidia's prized AI chips is exceeding supply by at least 50 percent, adding that the imbalance will stay in place for the next several quarters.