Episode summary
Nvidia’s Blowout Can’t Calm AI Anxiety | Prof G Markets
Prof G Markets
· · 30 min · Hosts: Ed Elson, Scott Galloway · Guests: Gil Luria, Ian Bremmer
Summary
Nvidia’s latest quarter reinforced the scale of the AI buildout: revenue beat expectations, data center sales rose 75% year over year, and management implied unusually strong visibility into continued sequential growth. The guest argued that the market’s reaction reflects two opposing anxieties at once: either AI spending is unsustainable and the buildout will stall, or AI is so powerful that it destroys software business models. He said both fears are overstated and that the more likely outcome is AI-driven productivity gains that support earnings and hiring over time.
Salesforce was the counterexample. The guest said the company’s problem is less AI disruption than a slowing core business, with growth pressured by competition from HubSpot, Monday, ServiceNow, Braze, and Klaviyo. He said the market is taking a negative software narrative and applying it too broadly, even though the real issue is deceleration, not an AI shock.
The second half shifted to Trump’s State of the Union. The guest and the host argued that the speech was long but notable mainly for what it omitted: tariffs, ICE, China, Canada, and Epstein. The guest said Trump made some real progress on foreign policy and the Israel-Gaza ceasefire, but also made obvious false claims about inflation, prices, and investment, and he appears to be avoiding the issues where he is weakest.
Key takeaways
- The guest said Nvidia’s guidance showed more visibility than ever and supports the view that hyperscalers are still committed to long-term AI infrastructure spending.
- He argued that the market is torn between two opposite AI fears, but both are extreme and the more probable outcome is productivity gains rather than collapse.
- He said Salesforce’s weakness is mainly deceleration in its core business, not AI, and that rivals like HubSpot, Monday, ServiceNow, Braze, and Klaviyo are taking share.
- The guest said Trump’s speech was notable less for what it said than what it skipped, especially tariffs, ICE, China, Canada, and Epstein.
- He said Trump was more misleading on the economy than on foreign policy, where he credited the administration with some real progress on the Israel-Gaza ceasefire.
Notable quotes
“they're going to grow sequentially for the rest of the year. They don't typically give more than one quarter out”
“the anxiety about AI isn't real and we don't need these data centers”
“the least of Salesforce's issue is AI. I actually think the issue with Salesforce is that their business is just decelerating rapidly”
“I'd say that we've been living with that first type of anxiety, the oh, the data center buildout isn't going to get a return for several months”
“What was most interesting to me about the speech was actually what he didn't say, and that is he barely talked about tariffs”
How the episode opens
Today's number two. That's how many affairs with Russian women Bill Gates admitted to have had after he apologized for his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. The Microsoft founder says he quote did nothing illicit and saw nothing illicit and that he quote never spent any time with the women around him.
Today's other number is zero. That's how many people believe him. Welcome to Frosty Markets.
I'm Edson. It is February 26th. Let's check in on yesterday's market vitals.
The major indices climbed ahead of Nvidia's earnings. More on that in a moment. Bitcoin bounced from recent lows, rallying back towards 70,000.
The price of gold, silver, and platinum increased. And finally, Netflix rose 6% in its best day in more than a year. That rally followed reports that Paramount's new offer may be good enough to win the bidding war for Warner Brothers Discovery.
Okay, what else is happening? The world's most valuable company, Nvidia, reported earnings yesterday that beat expectations on the top and bottom lines. That was largely driven by data center revenue, which rose 75% year-over-year in the quarter.
The revenue projections for the current quarter also came in higher than investors had expected. Nvidia stock rose as much as 5% after hours but then moderated during the call. Salesforce also reported yesterday but those earnings had a very different outcome.
The company's revenue grew 12% in the fiscal fourth quarter which was its fastest growth rate in two years. However, investors were disappointed with the company's revenue guidance for 2026. that sent the stock down nearly 6% after hours.
Joining us to unpack these earnings, we are speaking with Gil Lura, head of technology research at DA Davidson. Gil, good to see you. I want to start with Nvidia here.
Another incredible monster quarter. This keeps on happening.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- nvidia earnings
- salesforce earnings
- ai anxiety
- tech stock outlook
- state of the union
Companies and tickers mentioned
- NVDA
- CRM
- Nvidia
- Salesforce
- D.A. Davidson
- Eurasia Group
Watch the episode
Watch “Nvidia’s Blowout Can’t Calm AI Anxiety | Prof G Markets” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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