In a company meeting on Thursday, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said that "the market did not appreciate" its "incredible" quarter.
Nvidia delivered record-shattering earnings on Wednesday as Huang rebuffed swelling narratives around an AI bubble. Its stock popped on Wednesday and then fell again on Thursday as confidence in the AI trade wavered.
"If we delivered a bad quarter, it is evidence there's an AI bubble. If we delivered a great quarter, we are fueling the AI bubble," Huang said at the Thursday meeting, which Business Insider has listened to.
Huang said the expectations for Nvidia were so sky-high that the company was in somewhat of a no-win situation. He nodded to online chatter about the company's massive economic sway.
"If we delivered a bad quarter, if we're off by just a hair, if it just looked a little bit creaky, the whole world would've fallen apart," Huang said. "There's no question about that, OK? You should've seen some of the memes that are on the internet. Have you guys seen some of them? We're basically holding the planet together — and it's not untrue."
Huang also cited posts saying that Nvidia's work was helping the US to avoid a recession.
While he said he was "delighted" by the company's results and proud of employees, Huang said that Nvidia's massive influence has made expectations harder to meet — something that has also played out in its market value.
He joked about the "good old days" when the company had a $5 trillion market cap.
"Nobody in history has ever lost $500 billion in a few weeks," Huang said. "You've gotta be worth a lot to lose $500 billion in a few weeks."
An Nvidia spokesperson told Business Insider in a statement, "After another quarter of incredible growth and off-the-charts demand, Jensen's message to the company was to stay focused and let the market take care of itself."
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