Broadcom reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue and issued a strong forecast for the current period, as the chipmaker continues to benefit from the artificial intelligence boom. The stock rose 5% in extended trading on Wednesday.
“We have line of sight to achieve AI revenue from chips, just chips, in excess of $100 billion in 2027,” Broadcom CEO Hock Tan said on a conference call with analysts. “we have also secured the supply chain required to achieve this.”
Here’s how the company performed in comparison with LSEG consensus:
- Earnings per share: $2.05 adjusted vs. $2.03 estimated
- Revenue: $19.31 billion vs. $19.18 billion estimated
Revenue jumped 29% year over year during the fiscal first quarter, which ended on Feb. 1, according to a statement.
Net income increased to $7.35 billion, or $1.50 per share, from $5.50 billion, or $1.14 per share, in the same quarter a year earlier. Adjusted earnings exclude stock-based compensation and tax adjustments.
For the second quarter, Broadcom said it anticipates a 68% adjusted profit margin, higher than StreetAccount’s 66% consensus. The company said it’s looking for $22 billion in revenue, beating the $20.56 billion average estimate, according to LSEG.
The guidance includes $14.8 billion in semiconductor solutions revenue, higher than StreetAccount’s $13.06 billion consensus.
Broadcom helps other companies translate their chip designs into silicon, providing intellectual property and backend technologies before they’re sent off to chip fabrication plants from companies such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. It’s a role that’s gained importance as Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft design customized chips.
AI revenue soared 106% from a year earlier to $8.4 billion, “driven by robust demand for custom AI accelerators and AI networking,” CEO Hock Tan said in the statement. Tan had projected a doubling of AI revenue in December.
Broadcom reported $12.52 billion in revenue from semiconductor solutions, higher than the $12.25 billion that analysts polled by StreetAccount expected. During the quarter, Broadcom announced new Wi-Fi 8 chips.
For infrastructure software, Broadcom said it generated $6.80 billion in revenue, lower than StreetAccount’s $7.02 billion consensus.
In recent weeks, investors have become more concerned that generative AI models could pose competitive threats to mature software companies. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector Exchange-Traded Fund is down about 19% so far this year.
“Our infrastructure software is not disrupted by AI,” said Tan, whose company acquired server virtualization software company VMware in 2023.
Broadcom said its board authorized up to $10 billion in new share buybacks through 2026.
In December Tan said Anthropic had placed a $10 billion custom chip order. Last week U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon would dub Anthropic a “supply chain risk to national security” and President Donald Trump directed government agencies to stop using Anthropic after the AI startup refused to permit uses of its technology for mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons.
During Wednesday’s conference call, Tan called for one gigawatt of Google tensor processing units for Anthropic in 2026 and over three gigawatts in 2027.
OpenAI should be deploying over one gigawatt of its first-generation custom chip in 2027, Tan said.
He said Broadcom would see benefits from Meta‘s MTIA custom accelerator, despite doubts from analysts about the future of Meta’s custom silicon program.
“MTIA roadmap is alive and well,” Tan said, adding that it’s shipping now and that Meta is targeting multiple gigawatts of custom accelerator capacity in 2027 and beyond.
Advanced packaging, the next step in the chipmaking process after silicon comes off the fabrication line, is another area where Broadcom is investing. Chips are typically connected to a base layer with layers of copper to allow the chips to send electrical signals to larger systems, like circuit boards. In the earnings call, Tan said Broadcom is investing in glass substrates, a new technology that helps improve that electrical signal as systems for AI grow.
Nvidia has reserved the majority of TSMC’s most advanced chip on wafer on substrate, or CoWoS, packaging capacity, creating concerns about a bottleneck as AI chip demand shows no sign of slowing. “We have very good partners out there with this key component,” Tan said.
As of Wednesday’s close, Broadcom shares were down 8% so far in 2026, while the S&P 500 index was flat.
This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.
Read the original article here