Broadcom earnings primer: AI chip demand and growth are key

Broadcom is scheduled to report earnings for its fiscal third quarter after the close of regular trading on Thursday.Here's what analysts are expecting, according to a consensus from LSEG.Earnings per share: $1.65Revenue: $15.83 billionBroadcom, which develops custom chips for Google and other huge cloud companies and also makes networking gear needed to tie thousands of artificial intelligence chips together, is expected to report revenue growth of 21% from $13.07 billion a year ago.Analysts project revenue growth will hold steady the rest of this year and accelerate a bit in 2026.Broadcom has been one of the chief beneficiaries of the AI boom thanks largely to its accelerator chips, which the company calls XPUs. The processors are generally simpler and less expensive to operate than Nvidia's graphics processing units, or GPUs, and they're designed to run specific AI programs efficiently.Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald wrote in a report last week that they expect to see increased signs of demand from Google and Meta."Additionally, all eyes will turn towards any visibility of current AI Custom Silicon engagements converting into customers with high-volume ramps in sight," wrote the analysts, who recommend buying the stock.The analysts estimate that custom silicon could generate $25 billion to $30 billion in revenue for Broadcom next year and more than $40 billion by around 2027. The company generated total revenue of $51.6 billion in the latest fiscal year.Shares of Broadcom are up 30% this year and have almost doubled in the past 12 months, lifting the company's market cap to $1.4 trillion.In the fiscal second quarter, AI revenue jumped 46% from a year earlier to more than $4.4 billion, with 40% from networking. CEO Hock Tan said that number should reach $5.1 billion in the third quarter, "as our hyperscale partners continue to invest."Some of Broadcom's expansion has been fueled by acquisitions, most notably the purchase of server virtualization software vendor VMware for $61 billion in 2023. VMware is key to Broadcom's infrastructure software business, which accounted for 44% of sales in the most recent quarter.WATCH: Nvidia has best percentage of revenue from AI