Asian markets were mixed Thursday as another blockbuster earnings from chip titan Nvidia smashed forecasts but still left investors disappointed, while sentiment was also being swayed by geopolitical concerns. Bitcoin reached an all-time peak above $95,000 as it continued its run towards $100,000 on optimism that the incoming US president will usher in an era of deregulation for cryptocurrencies. All eyes had been on the release from Nvidia, which has been at the forefront of a global tech surge that has helped push some markets to multiple records owing to voracious demand for all things linked to artificial intelligence.
And once again, the firm topped expectations, announcing Wednesday that it made a $19 billion profit on record high revenue in the July-September quarter, while sales reached $35.1 billion -- about $2 billion more than estimated. However, its shares fell in after-hours trade, even as chief executive Jensen Huang declared that the "age of AI is in full steam, propelling a global shift to Nvidia computing" and that its keenly anticipated Blackwell processing platform is in full production.
Observers said investors had been hoping for an even bigger blowout report, with Bloomberg saying some had been hoping for sales of as much as $41 billion. Its shares -- which have soared more than 200 percent year to date -- dropped four percent at one point after-hours. With Nvidia now the world's most expensive listed company, its results have become a bellwether of the .