NVIDIA reported a standout QQ1 2026 performance driven by continued, broad-based demand for AI compute across data center, HPC, and enterprise workloads. Revenue reached USD 44.062 billion, up 46.68% year over year and 12.03% quarter over quarter, underscoring the secular AI tailwinds that NVIDIA has fostered through its CUDA ecosystem and family of AI accelerators. The gross margin remained exceptionally robust at 60.5%, enabling a high level of profitability with an operating margin near 49.1% and a net income margin around 42.6%. Net income for the quarter totaled USD 18.775 billion and diluted EPS stood at USD 0.76β0.77, reflecting operating leverage and favorable product mix.
Cash flow and capital allocation remained exceptionally strong. Operating cash flow was USD 27.414 billion, and free cash flow amounted to USD 26.187 billion, while cash and short-term investments aggregated USD 52.691 billion. NVIDIA ended the period with a net cash position of approximately USD 4.949 billion and total liquidity ample to fund R&D and capacity expansion. The company returned capital aggressively, repurchasing USD 14.095 billion of stock and paying USD 0.244 billion in dividends, signaling strong conviction in the long-term AI addressable market. Management commentary remains constructive on secular AI adoption and hyperscale demand, though the quarter did see a modest QoQ gross margin decline and sensitivities to product mix and cycle timing.
Overall, the QQ1 2026 result solidifies NVIDIAβs leadership position in AI compute and data center GPUs, while preserving a best-in-class balance sheet and generous free cash flow profile. Investors should monitor the pace of AI buildouts across hyperscalers, potential supply-demand dynamics in memory and interconnect components, and ongoing competitive developments as key drivers of near-term cadence and longer-term growth trajectory.