(Reuters) - Nvidia's ( NVDA ) shares ticked lower on Thursday as the AI bellwether's upbeat quarterly forecast failed to ease nerves around overspending in the industry.

The company's shares slipped 0.7% to $130.32 in early premarket trading. The stock had fallen 1.5% in extended trade on Wednesday.

Nvidia's ( NVDA ) strong growth forecast for the first quarter signaled that booming demand for its artificial intelligence chips was intact, and it said orders for its new Blackwell semiconductors were "amazing."

However, it expects first-quarter gross margin to fall to about 71% from 73.5% and below the 72.2% estimated by analysts, according data compiled by LSEG.

"The muted response is a balance of strong revenue and lower gross margins," said Gil Luria, analyst at D.A. Davidson.

"Gross margins are under pressure because of the transition to the new Blackwell products set. New semiconductor products tend to start off at lower margins and ramp over time."

The world's second-most valuable company has been the top beneficiary of an AI-driven spending spree by big technology companies over the past two years.

However, the launch and popularity of low-cost AI models from China's DeepSeek rattled the industry in January and raised questions around U.S. companies' heavy investments in the technology.

(Reporting by Alun John in London, Joel Jose and Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Amanda Cooper and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)