Nvidia becomes the first $5 trillion public company in history

Nvidia's journey to the top has been swift and dramatic

by · TechSpot

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Update, October 29:
Nvidia hits $5 trillion market cap just three months after topping $4 trillion

Nvidia has become the world's first publicly traded company to surpass a $5 trillion valuation, climbing to $5.13 trillion in early morning trading, just three months after crossing the $4 trillion mark. The record-setting jump follows CEO Jensen Huang's disclosure at this week's GTC keynote that Nvidia has secured more than $500 billion in AI chip orders through 2026.

While this provides an unprecedented level of revenue visibility for a technology firm, it's also called into question the dense network of deals between companies that depend on Nvidia, triggering criticism of so called circular investment, a classic warning sign of a market bubble.

Credit: Companies by Marketcap

The company's stock has risen more than 50% in 2025 and over 85% in the past six months, fueled by global investment in AI infrastructure where Nvidia is a sole major player. Nvidia's Blackwell GPUs remain the backbone of hyperscale data center buildouts, with the company controlling an estimated 90% of the market for high-performance AI chips.

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Nvidia also announced expanded domestic manufacturing in Arizona and new partnerships with Nokia and Oracle to support telecommunications and federal supercomputing projects. Apple and Microsoft each rejoined the $4 trillion club this week, but Nvidia's latest surge has set a new benchmark for market leadership in the AI era.

Update, July 9:
Nvidia becomes the world's first $4 trillion public company, surpassing Apple's record

Nvidia has become the first publicly traded company to reach a $4 trillion market valuation, underscoring its position at the center of the generative AI market. Its chips are used in the data centers that support AI models and cloud services from major firms like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google. The company's stock has risen about 20% this year, driven by sustained demand for AI infrastructure.

This development also marks a shift in market leadership. Nvidia surpassed both Apple and Microsoft, which had previously alternated as the most valuable companies. Apple, which started the year near a $3.9 trillion valuation, has declined amid broader market and policy concerns. Meanwhile, Nvidia reported $44.1 billion in revenue for the quarter ending in April, a 69% increase from the prior year, reflecting continued growth in AI-related demand.

The original story from July 4th follows below:

Nvidia came within striking distance of setting a new record for the most valuable company in history on Thursday, as its market capitalization soared to $3.92 trillion during intraday trading, just shy of the $4 trillion mark. The chipmaker's rapid ascent, fueled by relentless demand for its advanced AI chips, briefly pushed it past Apple's previous record closing value of $3.915 trillion set in late 2024. By the end of the trading session, Nvidia's value settled at $3.89 trillion, slightly below the all-time high but still underscoring its extraordinary run.

"When the first company crossed a trillion dollars, it was amazing. And now you're talking four trillion, which is just incredible. It tells you that there's this huge rush with AI spending and everybody's chasing it right now," Joe Saluzzi, co-manager of trading at Themis Trading, told Reuters.

The surge in Nvidia's stock reflects a broader wave of optimism on Wall Street about the future of AI. The company's latest chips have become essential for training and running the largest and most sophisticated AI models, fueling a race among technology giants to build powerful data centers and dominate the next era of computing. Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Alphabet, and Tesla are all competing to expand their AI infrastructure, and Nvidia's specialized hardware sits at the heart of this transformation.

Four years ago, the company was valued at $500 billion and was largely known for its graphics technology used in video games. Since then, its market capitalization has grown nearly eightfold, propelled by the explosive growth in AI applications and the company's ability to deliver the high-performance chips that power them.

The company's financial performance has been equally impressive. In the most recent quarter, Nvidia reported $44.1 billion in revenue, a 69 percent increase from the previous year, with data center sales alone contributing $39.1 billion. This puts Nvidia on track to approach $170 billion in annual revenue for fiscal 2026, up from $130.5 billion in 2025.

Analysts expect the company's next-gen Blackwell Ultra GPUs to further accelerate growth, with Wall Street anticipating that Nvidia could soon reach, and potentially surpass, the $4 trillion market cap milestone.

Nvidia's rise has also reshaped the broader stock market. The company now represents a significant portion of the S&P 500 index, and its performance has left many investors, including those saving for retirement through index funds, increasingly exposed to the fortunes of the AI sector.

Microsoft, currently valued at $3.7 trillion, and Apple, at $3.19 trillion, round out the top three most valuable companies. But Nvidia's momentum has set a new benchmark for what is possible in the technology industry.

Despite its dominance, Nvidia faces challenges, including ongoing trade restrictions that limit the sale of its most advanced chips to China, as well as rising competition from rivals developing custom AI hardware. However, the company's innovation pipeline remains robust, with expansion into new markets such as autonomous vehicles and physical AI systems, signaling that its influence in the tech world is likely to persist.