Nvidia's Earnings Call in November 2022 Hints at Generative AI Growth Before ChatGPT Launch
In its third-quarter fiscal 2023 earnings call on Nov. 16, 2022, Nvidia reported a challenging quarter with revenue down 17% year-over-year and gaming sales halved due to inventory issues and new U.S. export restrictions affecting China. Despite the weak performance in its traditional segments like gaming, management highlighted strong growth in data center revenue—up 31% to $3.8 billion—and explicitly cited large language models (LLMs) and generative AI as key drivers of this increase. CEO Jensen Huang described it as 'the beginning of the era of generative AI,' a term that would gain widespread attention two weeks later with OpenAI's release of ChatGPT. The earnings presentation also included forward-looking insights, such as projections for rapidly increasing computing power needs in training transformer-based models and mentions of Nvidia’s Omniverse platform as part of its metaverse strategy. These signals laid the groundwork for what would become a massive AI-driven surge in Nvidia’s stock value over the following years.
Topics: AI Earnings Gaming Inventory Charges