Nvidia provided guidance on Wednesday that its next-generation Blackwell AI chip rollout is on track and it is ramping production faster than anticipated. In a conference call with analysts, CEO Jensen Huang and CFO Colette Kress updated the current product guidance for Blackwell, which will be restrained by capacity rather than by demand going into the upcoming quarters.
Huang confirmed that Blackwell production is in full steam and the company expects to deliver more chips this quarter than originally forecasted. Despite some concerns from analysts and investors about potential shipment delays due to ongoing engineering adjustments, Nvidia assured stakeholders that Blackwell is on track. The company revealed that several key customers, including Microsoft, Oracle, and OpenAI, have already received early shipments of Blackwell chips. Till Today about 13,000 Blackwell chips have been shipped to customers, and volume shipments are expected to grow in the quarters ahead.
The financial projections from the company reflect Nvidia’s positive prospect on Blackwell.
In July, Nvidia estimated several billion dollars in Blackwell revenue for the current quarter, but the updated forecast suggests that sales will exceed this expectation. The company has also confirmed that Microsoft will soon begin previewing Blackwell-based systems to its cloud customers.
However, the company acknowledged that supply constraints, particularly related to components from key suppliers like TSMC, SK Hynix, and Micron, are limiting its ability to scale production rapidly. Huang noted that demand for Blackwell chips, driven by the increasing need for powerful GPUs for AI development, currently exceeds supply.
As Blackwell shipments increase, Nvidia’s previous AI chip, Hopper, will primarily serve existing AI models, while Blackwell will be the platform for next-generation models. Nvidia expects Blackwell’s sales to eventually surpass those of Hopper. Despite slightly lower gross margins in the short term, Nvidia anticipates these will improve as Blackwell’s production matures.
