High fidelity visualization & virtual reality will drive demand in professional graphics.

The DesignWorks platform holds the key to NVIDIA's professional graphics growth.   The company CEO says that VR and high-end rendering are essential for future growth in the professional graphics market.

VR will be good for NVIDIA business.  The benefits could be felt first in the professional business. In a marketplace where CAVE visualization environments and large power-wall display systems cost 10s of thousands of dollars, professional customers can have many of the same benefits now with VR headsets for a few hundred dollars. 

Feature films, architecture, and product design will continue to demand increased realism and higher performance. NVIDIA has been developing and promoting their iRay rendering engine to enable the market. 

DesignWorks is the brand for the NVIDIA toolset that pulls together technologies like the iRay render engine and tools to enable modern VR headsets in applications.  

According to the NVIDIA press release, the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended January 31st with record revenues. The company reported $1.4 billion revenues for their fourth quarter and $5.01 billion revenues for the year. GAAP gross margins were 56.5% for the 4th quarter and 56.1% for the year. GAAP earnings per share were $0.35 for the quarter and $1.08 for the year.   

CEO Jensen Huang focuses on four growth platforms: Gaming, VR, Deep Learning, and Automotive.  He positions the company as a provider of solution platforms. For example, the NVIDIA Drive PX and CX platforms provide solutions for developing autonomous driving cars and digital cockpits, respectively.  The four growth platforms represent significant market opportunities and NVIDIA feels that their technologies and solutions deliver significant value to each.