Nvidia doubles profits as sales exceed $1bn

Outpacing arch-rival

By Tony Smith • Get more from this author

9th November 2007 11:00 GMT

Nvidia last night reported record revenues - for the first time it passed the $1bn mark - when it announced its third-quarter financials. The graphics chip maker's profits were up more than double what they were in the year-ago quarter.

The three months to 28 October 2007 - Q3 FY2008 - yielded the company a net income of $235.7m - 38 cents a share - on revenues of $1.12bn. That's up 121.3 per cent and 36.5 per cent, respectively, on Q3 FY2007's income of $106.5m and $820.6m.

The quarter was well up on Nvidia's Q2 FY2008 performance too, with net income up 36.5 per cent from $172.7m and revenue up 19.8 per cent from $935.3m.

Nvidia's announcement comes a week after market watcher Jon Peddie Research (JPR) reported strong growth in the company's GPU shipments to the detriment of Intel and, to a greater extent, AMD, owner of Nvidia's arch-rival, ATI.

Nvidia is fast catching up with Intel, long the graphics market leader thanks to its array of PC chipsets that feature integrated graphics engines. According to JPR's numbers, ATI took a big hit when it announced in Q3 2006 that it was merging with AMD, a drop from which it has never recovered.

AMD has said it will launch the world's first 55nm GPU, codenamed 'RV670', "mid-November", and it's banking on the new part winning business lost to Nvidia.