San Francisco, May 21, 2026 -Chip giant Nvidia on Wednesday posted record quarterly revenue of $81.6 billion, blowing past Wall Street forecasts as insatiable demand for its artificial intelligence hardware powered another blockbuster quarter.The results for the first quarter of fiscal 2027, ending April 26, marked an 85 percent jump from the same period a year ago and a 20 percent rise from the prior quarter, underscoring Nvidia's status as the primary beneficiary of a global AI infrastructure buildout.Nvidia forecast second-quarter revenue above Wall Street expectations on Wednesday, and announced an $80 billion share repurchase program.Shares of the company were marginally down in extended trading.The world's most valuable company expects revenue of $91 billion, plus or minus 2%, compared with estimates of $86.84 billion, according to data ‌compiled by ⁠LSEG.Nvidia's results ⁠are largely considered a barometer for the AI market's health, as its chips are used in virtually every major data center in the world, powering the largest and most advanced models.The company also said it would increase its quarterly cash dividend from 1 cent per share to 25 cents per share.Spending on AI infrastructure continues to grow rapidly, with U.S. tech ⁠giants, including ‌Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft, expected to spend more than $700 billion on AI this year, a sharp jump from around $400 billion in ⁠2025.While heavily relying on Nvidia's expensive processors, the companies are also pouring funds into developing their own custom chips to run models, posing a risk to Nvidia's long-held dominance over the chip industry.Nvidia is facing competition not only from Big Tech but also from ‌other chip rivals, including Intel and Advanced Micro Devices, which have touted a large revenue opportunity from the inference market.The Santa Clara, California-based company has made ⁠moves to defend its position. It unveiled a new central processor and AI system built on technology from Groq - a chip startup specializing in inference - in March.