Nvidia launches record $150bn share buyback

{"text":[[{"start":7.4,"text":"Nvidia is launching the biggest share buyback in US corporate history as the Silicon Valley chipmaker continues to reap huge profits from its perch at the top of the AI supply chain."}],[{"start":17.94,"text":"The world’s most valuable company said on Monday that its board had approved a $150bn increase to its buyback programme, eclipsing the record $110bn set by Apple in 2024."}],[{"start":31.16,"text":"Nvidia is now authorised to spend up to $235bn on share buybacks before January 2028."}],[{"start":38.64,"text":"Nvidia’s profits are surging as the tech industry continues to pour enormous sums into AI infrastructure, with Goldman Sachs forecasting that AI investment will exceed $1tn this year. Its chips are the workhorses of the large language models that power ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini."}],[{"start":55.96,"text":"The company’s shares have risen more than 1,200 per cent since OpenAI debuted ChatGPT in late 2022. But the stock’s extraordinary momentum has slowed in 2026, rising about 20 per cent in the year to date, as more investors question the sustainability of the AI boom."}],[{"start":73.8,"text":"Shares in Nvidia jumped 3 per cent in early trading on Monday."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":77.16,"text":"Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s co-founder and chief executive, said on Monday that its new plan reflected “confidence in the long-term opportunity ahead” from AI."}],[{"start":86.28,"text":"“Nvidia’s growth is being driven by a once-in-a-generation platform shift to AI and accelerated computing,” Huang said. “Our cash generation gives us the capacity to invest in the technologies that advance this transformation and return capital to shareholders.”"}],[{"start":101.66,"text":"Large buyback authorisations often indicate that a company’s management believes its shares are undervalued. But large capital returns are typically associated with a slowdown in growth for large, well-established companies."}],[{"start":114.16,"text":"When Apple announced its $110bn buyback in 2024, the iPhone maker held all of the top five spots for the largest such authorisations by a US company, according to Bloomberg. At the time, the iPhone’s growth was slowing but Apple continued to reap huge profits from its dominance of the smartphone market."}],[{"start":133.04,"text":"By contrast, Nvidia’s sales continue to rise rapidly. Its revenues are forecast to grow about 90 per cent this year. Fierce competitors in the AI race, including OpenAI, Anthropic and SpaceX, are all huge customers. Even Google, which has its own range of AI chips, is a big buyer of Nvidia’s products through its cloud computing unit."}],[{"start":156.08,"text":"Nvidia generated almost $100bn in free cash flow in its most recent financial year ending in January. That figure is forecast to more than triple to $329bn in fiscal 2028, according to consensus estimates from S&P Global’s Visible Alpha."}],[{"start":161.12,"text":"The chipmaker’s net income is forecast to more than double to $245bn in the current financial year, according to Visible Alpha, rising to $387bn in the following fiscal year ending in January 2028."}],[{"start":192.45,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1790642665_9336.mp3"}