KATHMANDU: The intense race for dominance in the artificial intelligence sector is highlighted by a new sales milestone for chip giant Nvidia and a major government funding deal for competitor Intel.

On November 20, 2024, Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company, reported record-breaking revenue of $35.1 billion for the third quarter of its fiscal year 2025. This marked a 94 percent rise from the previous year, with profit reaching $19.3 billion.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang confirmed that the company’s latest platform, Blackwell Ultra, is in production and described demand for its products as “extraordinary.”

Meanwhile, the high-stakes battle between the two companies was laid bare in their contrasting fortunes earlier in the year. On April 15, 2025, Nvidia announced it would take a $5.5 billion charge as a financial write-down, a direct consequence of lost sales and unsold inventory after the U.S. government restricted exports of its H20 chips to China.

On the same day, rival Intel’s CFO, David Zinsner, revealed the company had secured a crucial $5.7 billion government deal. This funding, a conversion of previously awarded grants from the CHIPS and Science Act, gave the government a 10 percent ownership stake in the company.

The deal for Nvidia was short-lived. A new arrangement was finalized on, July 15, 2025, when Nvidia announced it had received assurance from the government that export licenses would be approved, allowing the company to resume sales of its H20 AI chips to China. The key term of this unique agreement was that Nvidia would pay the U.S. government 15 percent of the total revenue from its H20 sales in China.

This move could unlock a massive new market for the company, further intensifying its competition with Intel.