NVIDIA today reported revenue for the second quarter ended July 27, 2014, of $1.10 billion, up 13 percent from $977 million a year earlier and in line with the previous quarter. Revenue for the first half was up 14 percent to a record $2.21 billion from $1.93 billion a year earlier.

GAAP earnings per diluted share for the quarter were $0.22, up 38 percent from $0.16 a year earlier and down 8 percent from the previous quarter. Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share were $0.30, up 30 percent from $0.23 a year earlier and up 3 percent from the previous quarter."We had a great quarter with strong gains in each of our three growth areas -- Gaming, Datacenter & Cloud, and Mobile," said Jen-Hsun Huang, president and chief executive officer of NVIDIA. "Our Tesla datacenter business is in high gear, benefiting from strong demand from cloud service providers, and our new SHIELD tablet is generating considerable excitement. ‎ NVIDIA's accelerating growth stems directly from investments in extending our visual computing leadership to the mobile-cloud revolution."

During the second quarter, NVIDIA paid $47 million in cash dividends and received 6.8 million shares under the $500 million structured repurchase agreement it entered into in the first quarter. During the first quarter, the company had paid $47 million in cash dividends and had received 20.6 million shares under the agreement. As a result, during the first half, NVIDIA has returned $594 million of the $1 billion it intends to return to shareholders in fiscal 2015.

NVIDIA will pay its next quarterly cash dividend of $0.085 per share on Sept. 12, 2014, to all stockholders of record on Aug. 21, 2014. NVIDIA expects that a portion of this dividend payment may be considered a return of capital for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

Second Quarter Fiscal 2015 Highlights
During the second quarter, NVIDIA:

• Extended its leading position in datacenter accelerated computing, with the world's 15 most efficient supercomputers all running NVIDIA Tesla GPUs, according to the latest Green500 list.
• Surpassed 40 million installations in under two years of its GeForce Experience client, which provides game-ready drivers and optimal playable settings, and allows gameplay to be streamed and shared.
• Invented the first-ever GPU acceleration technology for Adobe Illustrator CC, with performance up to 10x faster than previously possible. Adobe Illustrator CC is used by more than six million artists and designers worldwide.
• Featured prominently at the Google I/O conference, where Google's new Android L was previewed. NVIDIA Tegra K1 is the first processor to support Android L's advanced gaming capabilities; the first to bring GPU computing to mobile, evident in Google's Project Tango tablet, which features computer vision capabilities; and among the first to support Android TV.
• Expanded the SHIELD family of gaming devices with the launch of the world's most advanced tablet built for gamers, the SHIELD tablet, along with the SHIELD wireless controller.
• Accelerated the growth of its auto business, as BMW shipped new models, including the i8 and i3 with infotainment systems powered by Tegra. Volkswagen announced that, in addition to the Golf, Tegra will be included in the Passat launching later this year in Europe.

NVIDIA's outlook for the third quarter of fiscal 2015 is as follows:

• Revenue is expected to be $1.20 billion, plus or minus two percent.
• GAAP and non-GAAP gross margins are expected to be 55.2 percent and 55.5 percent, respectively, plus or minus 50 basis points.
• GAAP operating expenses are expected to be approximately $463 million; non-GAAP operating expenses are expected to be approximately $416 million.
• GAAP and non-GAAP tax rates for the third quarter and annual fiscal 2015 are both expected to be 19 percent, plus or minus one percentage point. This estimate excludes any discrete tax events that may occur during a quarter which, if realized, may increase or decrease NVIDIA's actual effective tax rates in such quarter.
• Capital expenditures are expected to be approximately $40 million to $50 million.