Nvidia's Q1 beat and $91 billion Q2 guide keep the build-out on track — hyperscaler spending plans for 2026 have grown to nearly $700 billion
May 20th, 2026: Q1 fiscal-2027 earnings releaseNew here? Follow stories to track developments over time. Create a free account to get updates when stories you care about change.
Overview
Updated Jun 3Nvidia reported Q1 fiscal-2027 revenue of $81.6 billion on May 20, beating Wall Street's $78 billion consensus by $3.6 billion. Data center revenue hit $75 billion, up 92% from a year earlier. The company guided Q2 to $91 billion, above the $85 billion estimate, but the stock closed down 1.8% the next day as analysts said the beat was already priced in.
Microsoft, Google, Meta, and Amazon have since raised their combined 2026 capital-spending plans to roughly $700 billion, up from the $400 billion figure heading into the year. About $450 billion targets AI infrastructure directly, with Nvidia GPUs as the largest line item. Nvidia's Q2 guidance excludes China data-center revenue entirely, after a program to sell H200 chips under a U.S.-mandated revenue-sharing arrangement generated no sales.
Why it matters
Hyperscaler AI spending is the largest single capital cycle in tech history. Nvidia's quarterly numbers tell you whether it's still accelerating or starting to plateau.
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People Involved
Organizations Involved
Designer of the GPUs and networking gear that train and run nearly every major AI model.
The world's largest semiconductor foundry and the only manufacturer of Nvidia's Blackwell and Rubin GPUs.
Together they account for the majority of Nvidia data center revenue and set the tempo of the capex cycle.
The only company shipping non-Nvidia GPUs to hyperscalers in volume.
Timeline
November 2022 May 2026
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Q1 fiscal-2027 earnings release
Latest EarningsNvidia reports Q1 fiscal-2027 results after market close, with a conference call at 5 p.m. Eastern. Consensus calls for $78 billion revenue and $73 billion in data center revenue.
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Nvidia Q1 FY2027 actual results: $81.6B revenue, $75B data center, $91B Q2 guide
EarningsNvidia reported Q1 fiscal-2027 revenue of $81.6 billion (85% year-over-year), topping the $78 billion consensus. Data center hit $75 billion, up 92%. Q2 guidance of $91 billion beat the $85 billion estimate. Stock fell 1.8% the next session; analysts called it a well-telegraphed beat.
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H20 China export license required
RegulatoryU.S. government imposes licensing on H20 sales to China. Nvidia takes multi-billion dollar inventory writedown.
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Blackwell Ultra and Rubin announced
ProductNvidia previews Blackwell Ultra for late 2025 and the Rubin platform for 2026.
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Blackwell delay reports surface
SupplyMask defects at TSMC push initial Blackwell shipments from Q3 to Q4 calendar 2024.
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Blackwell unveiled at GTC
ProductJensen Huang announces the Blackwell architecture, successor to Hopper, with roughly 4x training performance.
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U.S. tightens China export controls
RegulatoryThe Commerce Department restricts sales of H800 and A800 chips designed to comply with earlier rules. Nvidia designs the H20 for the China market in response.
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Nvidia guides Q2 revenue to $11 billion
EarningsThe guide is roughly 50% above consensus and starts the AI infrastructure rally in earnest. Nvidia's market cap doubles within months.
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ChatGPT launches
Market triggerOpenAI releases ChatGPT publicly. Demand for AI training compute begins climbing immediately.
Historical Context
2 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.
Lucent Technologies and the telecom bust
Lucent reached a $258 billion market cap in late 1999 supplying optical gear to telecom operators racing to build fiber networks. The company financed customer purchases to keep growth going. When carriers like WorldCom and Global Crossing collapsed, Lucent's revenue fell over 60% in two years.
Lucent took massive writedowns on vendor financing, laid off more than half its workforce.
Lucent was acquired by France's Alcatel in 2006 at a fraction of its peak value. The fiber it helped lay sat dark for years before demand caught up.
Lucent shows the risk when a hardware supplier's customers are concentrated and their spending depends on access to cheap capital. AI hyperscalers fund capex from cash flow, but the structural concentration is similar.
Cisco at the dot-com peak (March 2000)
Cisco Systems briefly became the most valuable company in the world at $555 billion market cap. It supplied the routers and switches building out the commercial internet. Within two years its stock fell roughly 86% as telecom and dot-com customers cut capex.
Carriers and startups stopped ordering. Cisco took its first major inventory writedown and laid off thousands.
Cisco survived and remained profitable, but never regained its 2000 valuation in real terms. The infrastructure cycle ended faster than supplier guidance suggested.
Cisco's customers were funding a real, lasting build-out — the internet — but pulled spending forward and overshot demand. Nvidia investors watch this parallel because the buyer concentration and capex acceleration look similar.
