Nvidia’s AI boom just ran into a new $96B question

Nvidia's AI boom has hit a $96 billion roadblock as the Trump administration considers new semiconductor tariffs that could impact data center servers and other related equipment. The company's data center revenue soared to $89 billion, a 117% year-over-year increase, while its overall revenue hit $96.2 billion, up 106% from a year earlier.

Despite these impressive figures, investors remain concerned about potential changes in trade costs that could affect the gear needed to support Nvidia's growth. The company's Data Center division accounted for 92.5% of overall sales, indicating its heavy reliance on the servers, networking systems, and computer infrastructure built by cloud providers, AI labs, and major corporations.

The tariffs, initially levied on advanced computing chips, specifically mentioned Nvidia's H200 and AMD's MI325X. However, the exemptions for chips used in U.S. data centers, research and development, startups, and some consumer and industrial uses suggest the current policy is designed to avoid adding costs to the data center building that fuels Nvidia's expansion.