Nvidia crosses $500 million revenue mark in India, but growth rate may be tapering

Three decades after its founding, global chip giant Nvidia has become the world's most valuable company, boasting a market capitalization of $3.34 trillion, surpassing Microsoft and pushing Apple to third place. The company crossed the $1 trillion mark last year, driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom following the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022. Today, Nvidia stands among the US mega stocks alongside Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Tesla, and Meta.

Much like its dominance in the global market, Nvidia's operations in India have flourished, tripling revenues since FY18 and surpassing $500 million (approximately $545 million) in FY24. This growth outpaced its global parent, according to data from market research firm VCCEdge, a sister unit of TechCircle. The news platform reported in January that Nvidia might cross the $500 million revenue mark in India this year.

However, Nvidia's growth in India, pegged at around 20.3% for the year ending March 2024, was its slowest in the last five years. In prior years, growth ranged between 23% and 31% annually. The deceleration occurred even as the global parent more than doubled its sales, with revenue for the 12-month period ending January 2024 rising by 126% to $60.9 billion.

The company declined to comment on the story, as it does not provide country-specific data. Still, Nvidia's growth in India reflects trends in its global operations. Under Vishal Dhupar, managing director for South Asia since 2010, Nvidia has maintained a nearly two-decade presence in India, with six engineering centers in Gurugram, Hyderabad, Pune, and Bengaluru, employing 4,000 engineers—about 15% of its global workforce.

Additionally, Nvidia supports over 320,000 developers through its Indian developer program and estimates 60,000 experienced CUDA developers in the country, with CUDA downloads averaging 40,000 monthly.

In October, CEO Jensen Huang visited Mumbai for Nvidia's first AI summit in India, announcing collaborations with major firms such as Reliance, TCS, Infosys, LTTS, Tech Mahindra, and Zoho to expand Nvidia’s domestic presence.

India ranks second globally, behind China, in AI, machine learning, and big data analytics talent. At a press conference during the summit, Huang noted the rarity of such resources. “Over the past couple of years, we’ve collaborated to upskill and upscale approximately 200,000 IT professionals in AI,” he said.

During the event, Nvidia entered into an agreement with Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries to establish AI computing infrastructure and an innovation center in India. Earlier this year, during a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the US, Huang expressed interest in leveraging India's semiconductor design talent to expand Nvidia's reach.

Since its founding in 1993, Nvidia has evolved from focusing on video game graphics to becoming a leader in the AI revolution. Today, its GPUs power over 80% of global AI computations.

Recently, Nvidia reported fiscal third-quarter results that exceeded Wall Street expectations. However, its guidance for the current quarter fell short of high investor hopes, marking its slowest revenue growth in seven quarters. Revenue surged 94% year-over-year in the quarter ending October 27. The company noted that key customers like Microsoft, Oracle, and OpenAI are already receiving its next-generation AI chip, Blackwell.

Nvidia’s long-standing partnership with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) continues to strengthen its leadership in the AI market.