Nvidia reached a market capitalization of $4 trillion on Wednesday, becoming the first publicly traded company in the world to hit that milestone. The chipmaker’s stock climbed as much as 2.5 percent to a record high of $164, driven by continued strong demand for artificial intelligence technologies.
Nvidia’s recent stock surge comes despite a slow start to the year, which saw investor confidence waver after Chinese firm DeepSeek introduced a low-cost AI model.
DeepSeek’s rapid rise shook stock markets across the United States. Stocks fell sharply as investors abandoned the tech sector, resulting in a loss of over $1 trillion in market capitalization due to concerns surrounding a new artificial intelligence application from a Chinese startup. Nvidia shares dipped 16.9 percent, while its competitor Broadcom fell 17.4 percent. Other technology companies faced similar downturns, with Microsoft declining 2.14 percent and Alphabet, Google’s parent company, dropping over 4 percent.
Market cap triples in one year
The company first reached a $1 trillion market capitalization in June 2023 and has since tripled that value in just about a year, outpacing the growth of Apple and Microsoft, the only other U.S. companies with market caps exceeding $3 trillion.
Microsoft ranks as the second-largest U.S. company, boasting a market capitalization of $3.75 trillion, with its shares recently rising 1.3 percent to $503.
Nvidia has surged roughly 74 percent since its lows in April, when global markets were rattled by a wave of tariffs announced by U.S. President Donald Trump. Growing optimism that trade agreements will be reached with key partners has helped fuel recent market gains, pushing the S&P 500 to a record high.
Nvidia now holds the largest weight on the S&P 500 at 7.3 percent, surpassing other tech giants—Apple and Microsoft—which make up approximately 7 percent and 6 percent of the index, respectively.
Read: Emirates partners with Crypto.com to integrate crypto payments into air travel
Nvidia revenues to reach $45 billion in Q2
Nvidia reported a total revenue of $44.1 billion in the first quarter, marking a 69 percent annual increase along with a profit of 81 cents per share. For the second quarter, Nvidia expects revenue of $45 billion, plus or minus 2 percent. It will report second-quarter results on August 27.
In late June, the company surged to the top of the global corporate hierarchy, reclaiming its position as the world’s most valuable company after its shares soared to a fresh record high. The chipmaker’s stock jumped more than 4 percent, closing at $154.31 and pushing its market capitalization to an unprecedented $3.77 trillion, overtaking Microsoft and leaving Apple in third place.
The surge was catalyzed by a robust first-quarter earnings report in late May, which exceeded analysts’ expectations and underscored the company’s dominant position in the artificial intelligence hardware market.
