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Marvell Was Supposed to Be in Trouble. Then It Reported Earnings.

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Published Mar 6, 2026
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Two ships at sea: one sinking amid dark clouds and toppled buildings, the other golden, sailing with gold coins, treasure, and sunlit skyscrapers, symbolizing financial loss and success.
Summary:

  • Marvell beat Q4 estimates with $2.22 billion in revenue and guided for $2.4 billion next quarter.
  • The stock was down 8% for the year going in, dogged by rumors it lost key chip contracts with Amazon and Microsoft.
  • CEO Matt Murphy shot down the rumors and projected over $11 billion in revenue for fiscal 2027.

Three months ago, reports surfaced that Marvell was losing its most important customers. The company just used earnings to answer back.

What the Numbers Said

Marvell reported Q4 revenue of $2.22 billion — up 22% year-over-year and above its own guidance midpoint. Adjusted EPS came in at $0.80, topping the $0.79 analyst consensus. For the full fiscal year 2026, revenue hit a record $8.2 billion, up 42%. The data center segment — Marvell's core business — crossed $6 billion for the year, growing 46%.

Guidance was the real headline. Marvell projected $2.4 billion in Q1 revenue — well above the $2.28 billion Wall Street expected — and said revenue would accelerate every quarter through fiscal 2027, targeting over $11 billion for the year. The stock jumped 15% in after-hours trading Wednesday.

What Marvell Actually Does

Most investors know Nvidia as the AI chip story. Marvell is something different — it designs custom chips, called XPUs, specifically for individual cloud giants. SiliconAngle reported that AWS is its biggest customer, using Marvell-designed silicon for its Trainium AI chips. Microsoft's Maia line is also built on Marvell designs. The company also makes the high-speed optical interconnects — essentially the wiring — that moves data between AI chips at scale.

That custom chip business nearly doubled in fiscal 2026. Design wins hit an all-time record. JPMorgan analyst Harlan Sur told MarketWatch that the results confirm Marvell's AWS program remains on track and that demand for its optical components is accelerating as hyperscalers expand their AI infrastructure.

The Story Going In

The setup for these earnings was messy. In December, reports from The Information and Benchmark Research suggested Marvell might be losing business with both Amazon and Microsoft — two contracts that together represent the backbone of its AI revenue. The stock dropped sharply. CEO Matt Murphy pushed back directly on CNBC: "From Tuesday to Friday, nothing changed. We didn't lose any business."

Thursday's results backed him up. Marvell also recently closed a $3.25 billion acquisition of Celestial AI, adding photonic chip technology that management expects to contribute meaningful revenue by fiscal 2028.

The bears had a thesis. Marvell just dismantled it, one quarter at a time.

Disclosure

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