Nvidia Says Crypto Drop-Off Helped Drive 'Disappointing' Fourth Quarter

U.S.-based graphics card maker Nvidia has said the downturn in sales to cryptocurrency miners drove a "disappointing" fourth quarter.

In its latest financial report, published Thursday, the firm said for Q4, ending Jan. 27, it made revenue of $2.21 billion, down 24 percent from $2.91 billion in the same quarter last year, and down 31 percent from $3.18 billion in the previous quarter.

The firm said it is still feeling the effects of a drop-off in the crypto mining market, with an excess of inventory it had struggled to sell.

Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang commented:

“This was a turbulent close to what had been a great year. The combination of post-crypto excess channel inventory and recent deteriorating end-market conditions drove a disappointing quarter."

In an earnings call on Feb. 10, Colette Kress, the firm's executive vice president and CFO, added that the issue had caused the firm to reduce shipments in order to allow excess inventory to be sold. She added that inventory is expected to normalize in Q1 in line with its forecast.

The report also provides revenue numbers for the last full year.

Inventory issues aside, Nvidia said it made record revenue for the year of $11.72 billion, up 21 percent from the year prior. It also saw record yearly revenue from its gaming, datacenter, professional visualization and automotive segments.

“Despite this setback, NVIDIA’s fundamental position and the markets we serve are strong," Huang said. "The accelerated computing platform we pioneered is central to some of world’s most important and fastest growing industries – from artificial intelligence to autonomous vehicles to robotics. We fully expect to return to sustained growth."

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