SLB and Nvidia's two-decade partnership is scaling AI across oil drilling, with SLB's digital business growing 9% year over year and positioning the oilfield services company as a durable software platform rather than a commodity vendor.

What happened

SLB has been selected as a modular design partner for Nvidia's AI factories, and the joint 'AI Factory for Energy' announced in March 2026 is being rolled out across SLB's Delfi and Lumi platforms. SLB's digital revenue hit $640 million（約1000億円） in Q1 2026, up 9% year over year, with annual recurring revenue crossing $1.02 billion（約1600億円）, up 15%. Data center solutions grew 45% year over year and is targeting a $1 billion（約1600億円） run rate by year end.

Why it matters

Investors have traditionally valued SLB against crude oil price cycles, but the digital layer—now accounting for higher margins and recurring revenue typical of enterprise software—changes that equation. A Libyan drilling operation using autonomous steering cut drilling time roughly in half while accessing significantly higher net reservoir pay, suggesting customers are moving from pilots to full enterprise rollouts. SLB's CEO framed this as a 'secular trend' and 'a new earnings growth engine' that decouples the company from oil price volatility.

What to watch

Data center solutions annual recurring revenue continuing to compound in the next two quarters even as oil prices wobble would validate that digital growth is decoupled from crude. SLB shares trade at $48.28 with an analyst target of $62.36, down 11.48% over the past month as WTI crude slid 22.3%—the pullback resets the digital thesis at a lower price.