On Wednesday, Nvidia hit $4 trillion in market value, making it the first publicly traded company to hit that milestone, beating out Apple and Microsoft. The Nvidia stock rose 2.5% on Wednesday morning, to reach an intraday record that pushed its market value above the $4 trillion mark.
The American technology company is best known for designing and manufacturing graphics processing units (GPUs). While the GPUs were initially developed for gaming, the company has since expanded into high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, and the automotive industry. This year, the company has powered the global artificial intelligence boom.
Tech analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities wrote in a note, “There is one company in the world that is the foundation for the AI Revolution, and that is Nvidia.”
Nvidia’s current status as the world’s most valuable company has involved many ups and downs. Eight years ago, Nvidia’s stock was worth less than 1% of its current price. This year, Apple began the year as the world’s most valuable company, at around $3.9 trillion, which later tumbled due to President Donald Trump’s enactment of steep tariffs, and in recent months, Nvidia and Microsoft swapped places for the title of the world’s most valuable company.
The technology giant produces chips that data centers like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google need to power their AI models and cloud services. The AI industry is only expected to keep growing, and according to market research firm The International Data Corporation, global spending on AI infrastructure is estimated to surpass $200 billion by 2028.
In April, when global markets were shocked by President Trump’s intensifying tariff war, Nvidia’s share price dipped significantly; however, the company’s recent exponential rise in value is a sign of Wall Street’s faith in AI growth. Though the concerns surrounding Trump’s trade and tariff policies have not subsided, Nvidia is only projected to keep growing.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang believes, “AI will be necessary for every country and every industry,” projecting a long runway of growth for the company.