Nvidia becomes world’s first $5 trillion company amid AI boom

Nvidia has made history by becoming the world’s first company to reach a market value of $5 trillion, just three months after crossing the $4 trillion mark.

The milestone highlights the massive transformation driven by the global artificial intelligence (AI) surge, considered the biggest technological shift since Apple’s introduction of the iPhone 18 years ago.

Apple’s success with the iPhone had previously made it the first company to achieve $1 trillion, $2 trillion, and eventually $3 trillion in market value. Now, Nvidia has surpassed that legacy, thanks to its dominance in AI chip production.

The company’s stock has surged rapidly since early 2023, driven by growing demand for its chips.

On Wednesday, Nvidia’s shares touched $207.86 in early morning trading, with 24.3 billion shares outstanding, putting its market capitalisation at $5.05 trillion. According to the International Monetary Fund, Nvidia’s value now exceeds the GDP of India, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

Nvidia’s success stems from its early move to adapt its graphics processing units (GPUs) — initially used for gaming — to power advanced AI systems, including technologies behind ChatGPT and image generators. As AI adoption grew, so did the global race among tech companies to secure Nvidia’s chips.

Despite the excitement, several financial authorities have warned of a possible AI bubble. The Bank of England recently flagged concerns that inflated tech stock prices driven by AI could burst, while the head of the International Monetary Fund issued a similar warning.

However, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang remains confident. He dismissed bubble fears, saying that generative AI chatbots, once seen as “interesting,” are now “so useful that they will be profitable.”

Huang is currently in South Korea for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Gyeongju, where leaders from the U.S., China, Japan, and other Pacific Rim nations are meeting. The summit, which traditionally promotes free trade, comes amid escalating U.S. tariffs on technology and other products. A meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping is expected to dominate discussions, putting South Korea in a delicate position.

On Tuesday, Huang revealed that Nvidia had received $500 billion in chip orders. The company also announced a $1 billion investment in Nokia to collaborate on 6G technology and a partnership with Uber focused on robotaxis. Nvidia is also teaming up with the U.S. Department of Energy to build seven new AI supercomputers.

Last month, Nvidia announced a $100 billion investment in OpenAI to add at least 10 gigawatts of Nvidia-powered AI data centers, significantly boosting computing capacity for ChatGPT’s parent company.

In August, Huang confirmed that Nvidia was in talks with the Trump administration about developing a new computer chip for China. Trump, speaking aboard Air Force One, said he planned to discuss Nvidia’s chips with Xi during the APEC summit.

That same month, Trump struck a deal with chipmakers Nvidia and AMD to lift export controls on advanced chip sales to China in exchange for a 15% revenue cut. The move drew criticism from national security experts concerned that such chips could reach Chinese military and intelligence agencies. Trump also announced that the U.S. government had acquired a 10% stake in Intel worth around $11 billion.

Following that, Nvidia revealed a $5 billion investment in Intel and announced plans to collaborate with the struggling semiconductor company.