Nvidia’s first-quarter results for fiscal 2026 showcased an extraordinary ability to maintain momentum in the face of geopolitical disruption, marking a defining moment in its trajectory as a dominant AI chipmaker. The company reported a 69% year-over-year revenue surge to $44.1 billion, outperforming expectations despite the mid-April U.S. government ban on H20 GPU sales to China. The data center segment remained the primary growth engine, rising 73% to $39.1 billion, driven by rising AI infrastructure demand and the adoption of its cutting-edge Blackwell architecture. Notably, Nvidia’s Blackwell-based GB200 NVL72 servers are now being deployed at a rate of nearly 1,000 units per week by top cloud firms, with Microsoft alone expected to purchase hundreds of thousands of GB200s. This growth came even as Nvidia absorbed a $4.5 billion inventory write-down related to H20 chips and forecasted a combined $10.5 billion revenue hit across the April and July quarters. Despite this, investor sentiment remained upbeat, as Nvidia’s guidance of $45 billion for Q2 2026—slightly below the $45.9 billion consensus—was seen as resilient, especially with the exclusion of China-related sales.