Commitments and Contingencies

12 Months Ended

Jan. 28, 2024

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Purchase Obligations

Our purchase obligations reflect our commitments to purchase components used to manufacture our products, including long-term supply and capacity agreements, certain software and technology licenses, other goods and services and long-lived assets.

As of January 28, 2024, we had outstanding inventory purchase and long-term supply and capacity obligations totaling $16.1 billion. We enter into agreements with contract manufacturers that allow them to procure inventory based upon criteria as defined by us, and in certain instances, these agreements allow us the option to cancel, reschedule, and adjust our requirements based on our business needs prior to firm orders being placed, but these changes may result in the payment of costs incurred through the date of cancellation. Other non-inventory purchase obligations were $4.6 billion, which includes $3.5 billion of multi-year cloud service agreements, primarily to support our research and development efforts.

Total future purchase commitments as of January 28, 2024 are as follows:


	Commitments
	(In millions)
Fiscal Year:
2025	$	17,316
2026	1,143
2027	1,060
2028	770
2029 and thereafter	418
Total	$	20,707

Accrual for Product Warranty Liabilities

The estimated amount of product warranty liabilities was $306 million and $82 million as of January 28, 2024 and January 29, 2023, respectively. The estimated product returns and estimated product warranty activity consisted of the following:


		Year Ended
		Jan 28, 2024		Jan 29, 2023		Jan 30, 2022
	(In millions)
Balance at beginning of period		$	82	$	46	$	22
Additions		278		145		40
Utilization		(54)		(109)		(16)
Balance at end of period		$	306	$	82	$	46

In fiscal years 2024 and 2023, the additions in product warranty liabilities primarily related to Compute & Networking segment.

We have provided indemnities for matters such as tax, product, and employee liabilities. We have included intellectual property indemnification provisions in our technology-related agreements with third parties. Maximum potential future payments cannot be estimated because many of these agreements do not have a maximum stated liability. We have not recorded any liability in our Consolidated Financial Statements for such indemnifications.

Litigation

Securities Class Action and Derivative Lawsuits

The plaintiffs in the putative securities class action lawsuit, captioned 4:18-cv-07669-HSG, initially filed on December 21, 2018 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, and titled In Re NVIDIA Corporation Securities Litigation, filed an amended complaint on May 13, 2020. The amended complaint asserted that NVIDIA and certain NVIDIA executives violated Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, and SEC Rule 10b-5, by making materially false or misleading statements related to channel inventory and the impact of cryptocurrency mining on GPU demand between May 10, 2017 and November 14, 2018. Plaintiffs also alleged that the NVIDIA executives who they named as defendants violated Section 20(a) of the Exchange Act. Plaintiffs sought class certification, an award of unspecified compensatory damages, an award of reasonable costs and expenses, including attorneys’ fees and expert fees, and further relief as the Court may deem just and proper. On March 2, 2021, the district court granted NVIDIA’s motion to dismiss the complaint without leave to amend, entered judgment in favor of NVIDIA and closed the case. On March 30, 2021, plaintiffs filed an appeal from judgment in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, case number 21-15604. On August 25, 2023, a majority of a three-judge Ninth Circuit panel affirmed in part and reversed in part the district court’s dismissal of the case, with a third judge dissenting on the basis that the district court did not err in dismissing the case. On November 15, 2023, the Ninth Circuit denied NVIDIA’s petition for rehearing en banc of the Ninth Circuit panel’s majority decision to reverse in part the dismissal of the case, which NVIDIA had filed on October 10, 2023. On November 21, 2023, NVIDIA filed a motion with the Ninth Circuit for a stay of the mandate pending NVIDIA’s petition for a writ of certiorari in the Supreme Court of the United States and the Supreme Court’s

resolution of the matter. On December 5, 2023, the Ninth Circuit granted NVIDIA’s motion to stay the mandate. NVIDIA’s deadline to file a petition for a writ of certiorari is March 4, 2024.

The putative derivative lawsuit pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, captioned 4:19-cv-00341-HSG, initially filed January 18, 2019 and titled In re NVIDIA Corporation Consolidated Derivative Litigation, was stayed pending resolution of the plaintiffs’ appeal in the In Re NVIDIA Corporation Securities Litigation action. On February 22, 2022, the court administratively closed the case, but stated that it would reopen the case once the appeal in the In Re NVIDIA Corporation Securities Litigation action is resolved. Following the Ninth Circuit’s denial of NVIDIA’s petition for rehearing on November 15, 2023, the parties are conferring regarding the next steps in this derivative matter. The lawsuit asserts claims, purportedly on behalf of us, against certain officers and directors of the Company for breach of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment, waste of corporate assets, and violations of Sections 14(a), 10(b), and 20(a) of the Exchange Act based on the dissemination of allegedly false and misleading statements related to channel inventory and the impact of cryptocurrency mining on GPU demand. The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified damages and other relief, including reforms and improvements to NVIDIA’s corporate governance and internal procedures.

The putative derivative actions initially filed September 24, 2019 and pending in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, Lipchitz v. Huang, et al. (Case No. 1:19-cv-01795-UNA) and Nelson v. Huang, et. al. (Case No. 1:19-cv-01798- UNA), remain stayed pending resolution of the plaintiffs’ appeal in the In Re NVIDIA Corporation Securities Litigation action. Following the Ninth Circuit’s denial of NVIDIA’s petition for rehearing on November 15, 2023, the parties are conferring regarding the next steps in these derivative matters. The lawsuits assert claims, purportedly on behalf of us, against certain officers and directors of the Company for breach of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment, insider trading, misappropriation of information, corporate waste and violations of Sections 14(a), 10(b), and 20(a) of the Exchange Act based on the dissemination of allegedly false, and misleading statements related to channel inventory and the impact of cryptocurrency mining on GPU demand. The plaintiffs seek unspecified damages and other relief, including disgorgement of profits from the sale of NVIDIA stock and unspecified corporate governance measures.

Another putative derivative action was filed on October 30, 2023 in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware, captioned Horanic v. Huang, et al. (Case No. 2023-1096-KSJM). This lawsuit asserts claims, purportedly on behalf of us, against certain officers and directors of the Company for breach of fiduciary duty and insider trading based on the dissemination of allegedly false and misleading statements related to channel inventory and the impact of cryptocurrency mining on GPU demand. The plaintiffs seek unspecified damages and other relief, including disgorgement of profits from the sale of NVIDIA stock and reform of unspecified corporate governance measures. This derivative matter is stayed pending the final resolution of In Re NVIDIA Corporation Securities Litigation action.

Accounting for Loss Contingencies

As of January 28, 2024, we have not recorded any accrual for contingent liabilities associated with the legal proceedings described above based on our belief that liabilities, while possible, are not probable. Further, except as specifically described above, any possible loss or range of loss in these matters cannot be reasonably estimated at this time. We are engaged in legal actions not described above arising in the ordinary course of business and, while there can be no assurance of favorable outcomes, we believe that the ultimate outcome of these actions will not have a material adverse effect on our operating results, liquidity or financial position.