NVIDIA loses $141 million in Q2
Blames low consumer demand and shareholder lawsuit for Q2 decline
Graphics chip firm NVIDIA has posted a net loss of $141 million for the second quarter of its current fiscal year.
This is a steep turnaround from the last quarter's profit of $137.6 million, and down even from the loss of $105 million for the same time last year.
However, total revenue reached $811.2, down from Q1's $1,001.8 but an improvement on last year's $776.5 million.
NVIDIA prescribed the sharp change in fortunes to a significant inventory write-down following poo rconsumer demand for graphics cards, claiming the financial climate had led PC owners to gravitate towards low-end or integrated parts.
Also contributing was a legal charge of $193.9 million the company was set to pay as a result of a class action lawsuit brought about by disgruntled shareholders in 2008. The suit claimed that NVIDIA had knowingly provided defective parts to market.
"Rapidly changing market conditions made for a challenging quarter," said Jen-Hsun Huang, NVIDIA CEO. "We delivered excellent results in Quadro professional graphics, Tesla GPU computing, and our Tegra system-on-a-chip business. But our GeForce consumer business fell significantly short of expectations amid weak PC demand in Europe and China.
"Although demand among end-users remains uncertain, we expect to drive revenue and grow market share with new products that are gaining momentum in each of our businesses."
NVIDIA claimed that, were the losses and tax impacts resulting from the lawsuit to be discounted, it would have posted an adjusted profit of $20.1 million.