Broadcom vs Nvidia, side by side
Both are major US chip companies riding the boom in artificial intelligence, but they play different roles. Nvidia designs the graphics processors and accelerators that dominate the training of large AI models. Broadcom offers a broad mix of networking chips, custom AI chips built for a handful of big customers, and infrastructure software after acquiring VMware. Same wave, different routes in.
On our factor screen it looks strongest on growth and quality, and weakest on value.
On our factor screen it looks strongest on growth and quality, and weakest on value.
The numbers, side by side
| Measure |  Broadcom Inc. |  Nvidia |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $389.28 | $200.75 |
| Market cap: The company's total value on the stock market - share price times the number of shares. Big = 'large-cap', small = 'small-cap'. | $1.85T | $4.86T |
| P/E: Price-to-earnings: the share price divided by yearly profit per share. Lower can mean cheaper; higher often means investors expect fast growth. | 64.6 | 29.8 |
| Div yield: Dividend yield: the yearly dividend as a percentage of the share price - roughly the income you'd earn just from dividends. | 0.7% | 0.5% |
| Revenue growth | 47.9% | 85.2% |
| 1Y: How much the share price has moved over the past year. | +30% | +12% |
More measures
| Forward P/E: Price-to-earnings: the share price divided by yearly profit per share. Lower can mean cheaper; higher often means investors expect fast growth. | 20.0 | 15.6 |
|---|---|---|
| Net margin | 38.8% | 63.0% |
| ROE | 37.3% | 114.3% |
| Beta: How bumpy the share price is versus the whole market. Above 1 swings more than the market; below 1 is calmer. It's about the ride, not whether it goes up or down. | 1.46 | 2.21 |
The bolder figure is simply the larger of the two - higher is not automatically good (a higher P/E means more expectation in the price; a higher beta means bigger swings).
How they differ
Nvidia is roughly 3x the size of Broadcom Inc. by market value. On our factor screen Broadcom Inc. currently screens higher on momentum, while Nvidia screens higher on income and quality. Broadcom Inc. trades on the higher P/E (64.6 vs 29.8), so more expectation is already built into its price. Over the past year the share prices moved +30% (Broadcom Inc.) vs +12% (Nvidia).
Descriptive only - how the two compare on today's data, never a verdict on either.
Broadcom Inc., in one line
Broadcom is a tech giant that designs the essential chips and software that keep the world's data centres, smartphones, and internet networks running.
Read the full Broadcom Inc. explainer →Nvidia, in one line
The undisputed king of the AI chips data centres need to train and run their models.
Read the full Nvidia explainer →What to weigh
If sharp swings bother you, the betas differ (1.46 vs 2.21). These are facts to understand, not a verdict - read each full explainer before deciding anything.
Common questions
Do Broadcom and Nvidia make the same kind of chips?
Not really. Nvidia is known for GPUs and accelerators used to train AI models, and it currently leads that market. Broadcom makes networking chips that move data around, designs custom AI chips for specific large customers, and now offers infrastructure software too. They meet in AI but from different specialities.
Why do Broadcom and Nvidia shares often move together?
Both are priced heavily on expectations for AI and data-centre spending, so news that shifts that story tends to move both. But their mixes differ - Broadcom carries a large software arm and depends on custom-chip deals, while Nvidia leans more on supplying accelerators - so they rarely move by the same amount.