Wall Street has a new benchmark: $5 trillion. Nvidia became the first company in history to reach this valuation on Wednesday, with its market cap settling at $5.05 trillion. The stock, which hit $207.86, was lifted by a wider US market rally that is almost entirely centered on the promise of artificial intelligence.
The chipmaker’s rise has been meteoric, gaining $1 trillion in value in just three months. This sprint is thanks to the industry’s “ravenous appetite” for its cutting-edge processors, which are essential for powering AI. This demand is so vast that Nvidia’s value now exceeds the individual economies of Japan, India, and the UK.
CEO Jensen Huang’s recent announcements have solidified this dominance. A $500 billion order book, a robotaxi deal with Uber, a 6G partnership with Nokia, and a $1 billion investment from the US Department of Energy for supercomputers have all fueled the rally.
A $100 billion investment in OpenAI to scale its AI datacenters further cements Nvidia as the kingpin of the AI infrastructure. The company’s success has also been publicly praised by President Donald Trump, who is a shareholder.
This AI-driven surge is being compared to the iPhone boom that made Apple a $3 trillion company. However, unlike Apple’s hardware sales, the AI boom’s profitability is being questioned. Regulators are warning of a bubble, citing “circular” investments and reports that most AI pilot programs are failing to generate revenue.
