Nvidia just smashed records. Again.

Hey Superheroes,

It’s been a big week for reporting season on both sides of the Pacific.

The S&P/ASX 200 hit a fresh record high above 9,100, driven by a tech-fuelled rally after blockbuster results from Nvidia lifted global sentiment, with some local tech stocks surging nearly 5%.

Closer to home, it was also a massive week on the ASX. DroneShield posted a near-quadrupling of revenues as it works to put its governance crisis behind it, and WiseTech made headlines for all the right and wrong reasons.

Let’s get into it.

Nvidia Just Printed the Biggest Quarter in Chip History

Jensen Huang doesn’t do things in half measures. This week, Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) delivered the most impressive earnings report in the company’s history, and probably one of the biggest in the semiconductor industry, full stop.

💰 The numbers

Nvidia’s Q4 results came in well ahead of what Wall Street expected across every major line item:

• Revenue: US$66.21 billion estimated vs. US$68.13 billion (↑2.90%)
• Earnings per share: US$1.53 estimated vs. US$1.62 adjusted (↑5.88%)
• Net income: US$43 billion (nearly double the same quarter last year)

The real story, though, is the data centre. Revenue from that division hit US$62.3 billion for the quarter, up 75% year-on-year and now accounts for over 91% of Nvidia’s total sales. The AI chip boom isn’t slowing down.

🔮 What comes next

Guidance was arguably the most jaw-dropping part. Nvidia forecast Q1 revenue of US$78 billion, against analyst expectations of US$72.6 billion. That’s not a beat. That’s a different conversation entirely.

Helping drive that outlook: the four major hyperscalers — Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft — collectively flagged combined capex that could approach US$700 billion this year alone, and Nvidia confirmed they remain its largest customer category, accounting for over half of data centre revenue.

On the chip roadmap front, Nvidia has already shipped its first samples of the next-generation Vera Rubin rack-scale system (the successor to Grace Blackwell) to customers this week, with full production shipments expected in the second half of the year. Vera Rubin promises ten times more performance per watt, a crucial advantage as data centres grapple with soaring energy costs.

🌍 Diversifying the supply chain

One quieter but significant development is that Nvidia is actively expanding manufacturing beyond Asia. 

Blackwell GPUs are now being made at TSMC’s new chip plants in Arizona, and rack-scale systems are being assembled at a Foxconn facility in Mexico. With geopolitical risk and chip export restrictions a growing concern and Nvidia excluded from selling its AI chips to China, spreading the supply chain makes sense.

The stock was up modestly on the news. For a company already carrying a multi-trillion dollar valuation, that’s not surprising.

DroneShield Cleans Up Its Act After a Messy Year

It’s been a wild 12 months for DroneShield (ASX:DRO). From meme-stock darling to governance controversy to earnings comeback, the Aussie defence tech company had quite the ride. 

This week, CEO Oleg Vornik came out swinging with strong results and a clear message: the business is back on track.

📈 The results

Revenue nearly quadrupled to A$216.5 million in 2025, and demand for DroneShield’s anti-drone systems shows no sign of letting up. Shares jumped almost 12% on the news. 

To put that in context, the stock began 2025 at A$0.73, hit a high of A$6.70, slumped to A$1.72 after the November furore, and is now trading around A$3.6.

🎭 What happened last November?

The headlines weren’t about earnings. They were about A$70 million in insider share sales.

Vornik and two other directors sold shares shortly after they vested. The move triggered an ASX inquiry and a sharp market reaction. Confidence took a hit.

This week, Vornik said his A$49.5 million sale was to cover tax and secure his financial future, and didn’t reflect his view of the company’s prospects. He also acknowledged that, as an ASX 200 company, the optics were always going to be tough.

It’s a reminder that in public markets, perception matters just as much as performance.

🛡️ Tightening the rulebook

To rebuild trust, DroneShield has brought in law firm Freehills to review and strengthen its governance framework.

New measures include minimum shareholding requirements for executives. Over time, Vornik will need to hold shares worth 200% of his annual salary, and a “front page test” for any director or employee share trading.

The idea is simple: would this decision look reasonable on the front page of a newspaper?

🌏 The bigger picture

DroneShield is working to reposition itself. It’s not just about handheld drone-defence devices anymore. In fact, those products made up just 20% of revenue last year.

The company sees its future as an integrated command-and-control defence business, with growing interest from European investors amid rising global defence spending.

🔦 Some other things we’re shining the Spotlight on:

THE AI JOB CULL: WiseTech Global (ASX:WTC) announced it will cut up to 2,000 jobs as it leans into AI to write code and service customers. CEO Zubin Appoo put it bluntly: “The era of manually writing code as the core act of engineering is over.” The company posted a 76% rise in revenue to US$672 million for the half, and shares bounced more than 10% on the news on Wednesday. The bigger question is whether WiseTech can convince the market that the same AI eating its headcount won’t eventually eat its product.

WOOLWORTHS FIGHTS BACK: After nearly two years of being outmanoeuvred by Coles, Woolworths (ASX:WOW) is finally showing signs of life. Australian supermarket sales rose 3.6% in the half, and accelerated to 5.8% growth in the first seven weeks of Q3. Group earnings rose 14.4% to A$1.66 billion, and the company declared a fully franked interim dividend of A$0.45 per share, up from A$0.39 a year ago. Shares rose 13% on Wednesday. CEO Amanda Bardwell struck a measured tone, noting the company had momentum but still had work to do rebuilding customer trust around pricing.

NO DEALS, NO MEALS: Domino’s Pizza Enterprises (ASX:DMP) made a bold call last August. Kill the vouchers, go everyday-low-prices like Bunnings. The short-term pain is now very real. The pizza chain lost roughly one in ten customers, with Australian and NZ sales sliding 8.3% to A$363 million. The stock fell 12% on Wednesday. Executive chairman Jack Cowin maintains it’s a necessary reset, with profits returning and a new CEO from McDonald’s starting in August. Whether customers come back is the A$40 pizza-shaped question.

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