Nvidia (NVDA) Crushes Earnings as Bitcoin Miners Benefit from AI Data Center Shift

Table of Contents Nvidia’s latest quarterly performance has exceeded expectations once again, creating positive momentum for cryptocurrency mining companies that have transitioned into AI infrastructure hosting. Nvidia announced first-quarter revenue totaling $81.62 billion, marking an 85% surge from the previous year’s $44.06 billion. This performance exceeded Wall Street’s consensus estimate of $78.9 billion. The company’s adjusted earnings per share hit $1.87, topping analyst predictions of $1.76. Nvidia Earnings Smash Expectations 🚀 Nvidia $NVDA delivered another huge AI-driven quarter, with revenue, EPS, data center sales and guidance all coming in ahead of Wall Street forecasts ⚡ pic.twitter.com/BjjN9d80SK — Wall St Alpha (@WallStAlphaPro) May 21, 2026 The Data Center segment delivered $75 billion during the quarter, representing more than 90% of overall company revenue. The chipmaker restructured its financial reporting into two primary divisions—Data Center and Edge Computing—highlighting the dominance of its data center operations. Hyperscale customers accounted for over half of Data Center revenue, contributing approximately $38 billion. Additional revenue streams included AI cloud providers, enterprise clients, and industrial applications. Revenue from AI cloud services more than tripled compared to the same period last year. For the upcoming quarter, Nvidia projected revenue of approximately $91 billion. The company simultaneously announced an $80 billion stock repurchase authorization and increased its quarterly dividend from 1 cent to 25 cents per share. Despite these robust results, Nvidia’s stock declined approximately 1.5% following the earnings release. Market participants appear concerned about emerging competition in the artificial intelligence semiconductor sector. The company clarified that its forward guidance excludes any Data Center compute revenue from China, where U.S. export controls restrict the sale of cutting-edge chips. CEO Jensen Huang described the ongoing AI infrastructure expansion as “the largest infrastructure expansion in human history” and emphasized that agentic AI is now delivering tangible business value. Bitcoin mining companies that have expanded into AI and high-performance computing infrastructure saw small gains during after-hours trading following Nvidia’s results. Core Scientific and Cipher Mining each posted slight increases. IREN initially climbed but had declined approximately 1% at publication time. IREN Limited, IREN These mining operators have been transitioning away from exclusive Bitcoin mining operations toward leasing GPU infrastructure to artificial intelligence firms and data center clients. This strategic pivot reflects the margin advantages between the two business models, with AI hosting typically providing more predictable returns compared to mining revenue dependent on Bitcoin’s volatile price. Core Scientific completed its bankruptcy restructuring and has rebranded itself as a high-performance computing provider with contracts focused on AI workloads. Hut 8 has pursued a comparable strategy, leveraging its energy resources and data center expertise to secure non-mining customers. Mining companies possess potential competitive advantages in power acquisition and regulatory approvals, two of the most time-consuming elements of data center development. However, they face formidable competition from Amazon, Microsoft, and Google, which command significantly greater financial resources. Industry analysts project the AI infrastructure market will expand to $3 to $4 trillion by decade’s end. Bitcoin has been fluctuating in the $77,000 to $94,000 range, with ETF capital inflows decelerating from the year’s earlier pace. Nvidia’s quarterly performance indicates that AI infrastructure investment remains robust, potentially benefiting mining companies that have successfully transitioned to data center service providers.