Broadcom smashed Wall Street’s estimates Thursday with stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter numbers, citing rising demand for AI chips as the main reason.
The company said revenue for Q4 hit $18.02 billion, beating the $17.49 billion analysts had forecast, while adjusted earnings per share landed at $1.95, also ahead of the $1.86 prediction from LSEG.
Net income nearly doubled from a year ago. The company pulled in $8.51 billion, or $1.74 per share, up from $4.32 billion, or 90 cents per share. The stock moved 3% higher after hours following the report.
Broadcom raises forecast as AI sales double to $8.2 billion
Looking ahead, Broadcom said it expects $19.1 billion in revenue for the current quarter. That would be a 28% year-over-year increase, well above the $18.3 billion consensus estimate.
CEO Hock Tan said in a statement that AI chip sales are projected to hit $8.2 billion this quarter, doubling from the same time last year. He added that demand is coming from both custom chips and networking semiconductors built for AI systems.
Back in June, Broadcom said it had three customers and four prospects for its custom AI chips. Then, in September, it revealed a fourth client who placed a $10 billion order. That customer still hasn’t been named. Market watchers are waiting to see if Broadcom confirms those clients are staying on track.
The company’s semiconductor solutions division posted $11.07 billion in revenue, a 22% increase compared to the same quarter last year. That number beat the $10.77 billion estimate from StreetAccount. This segment is where AI chip sales are booked.
Meanwhile, the infrastructure software business brought in $6.94 billion, up 26% year-over-year, topping Wall Street’s expectations as well. This segment includes revenue from the VMWare unit, which Broadcom officially absorbed earlier this year.
On the hardware side, Broadcom has been working with Google for nearly a decade on custom-designed AI chips. The current model, known as TPUv7 or Ironwood, has launched faster than anticipated.
According to Susquehanna, Google recently brought in Anthropic as a key customer, ordering up to 1 million TPUs. Meta is also buying.
In terms of shareholder returns, Broadcom said it will pay a dividend of 65 cents per share later this month, up from 59 cents previously. The company didn’t give more details on buybacks or other capital plans in this release.
Broadcom stock is up 75% year-to-date, following a full-year double in 2024. Like Nvidia, Broadcom has been one of the few U.S. chipmakers consistently delivering results as AI infrastructure spending ramps up globally.
But unlike Nvidia’s focus on GPUs, Broadcom is carving out its own space by building custom silicon for the hyperscalers.
Hock said the AI boom is only getting started, and that Broadcom’s chip orders are “just beginning to scale.” Whether those unnamed clients fully follow through or not, the company is already booking billions.
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