Graphics-chip maker NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) reported record revenue for the second quarter ended August 1, 2021, of US$6.51 billion, up from Wall Street’s estimates of $6.33 billion.

The revenue represents a jump of 68% from a year earlier and 15% from the previous quarter, with record revenue from the company’s gaming, data centre and professional visualisation platforms.

Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share were $1.04, up 89% from a year ago and up 14% from the previous quarter. This was also higher than the market’s expected $1.01.

Data centre revenues hit a record-high for the company at $2.37 billion, up 35% from a year earlier and up 16% from the previous quarter.

Second-quarter revenue for gaming was $3.06 billion, up 85% from a year earlier and up 11% from the previous quarter, whilst professional visualisation services contributed $152 million, up 37% from a year earlier and down 1% from the previous quarter. The Covid-19 pandemic has been a strong revenue maker for the tech firm.

Shares of Nvidia were up over 1% in after-hours trading as the markets reacted to the results announcement.

The company has also released its outlook for the third quarter of fiscal 2022 with revenues expected to be $6.80 billion, plus or minus 2%. This is $300 million more than what is shown in the IBES data from Refinitiv.

Nvidia is still awaiting to acquire semiconductor designer Arm from Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp (TYO: 9984).

The $40 billion deal, which is taking longar than expected, was originally announced in September 2020 and has been under strong scrutiny ever since.

Industry regulators and tech giants including Google, Qualcomm, Microsoft and others, have expressed their concerns over the acquisition.

This is due to the fact that Arm’s processors are found in the large majority of mobile devices as well as gaining market traction within the computer segment. Arm’s work is the basis on each companies like Apple, Samsung, Intel, Qualcomm and Nvidia manufacture their products.

Industry worries sit on the fact that if acquired by NVIDIA, Arm would be slowly pushed to serving NVIDIA’s interests more than other brands, therefore losing its manufacturer-neutral stance.

Nvidia expects the deal to be closed by March 2022.