Nvidia Corp. has become the first public company to achieve a $5 trillion market capitalization, a significant financial milestone driven by robust demand for its specialized hardware in the artificial intelligence sector. The company's shares climbed more than 5.6% on Wednesday, reaching as much as $212.19, as reported market sentiment responded to several key developments.
A contributing factor to Wednesday's share increase was news regarding U.S. President Donald Trump's stated expectation to discuss Nvidia's Blackwell chips with Chinese President Xi Jinping, a discussion reportedly scheduled for Thursday. This follows comments made Tuesday by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who projected $500 billion in AI chip sales and announced the company is constructing seven new supercomputers for the U.S. across critical sectors including security, energy, and science. These systems are anticipated to require thousands of Nvidia GPUs for operation.
In a related development on Tuesday, Nvidia also disclosed a $1 billion investment in Nokia. This partnership aims to leverage Nokia's products to enable communication service providers to deploy AI-native 5G-Advanced and 6G networks on NVIDIA platforms, according to statements from the companies. Such initiatives underscore the foundational role of Nvidia's technology in evolving telecommunications infrastructure critical for industrial connectivity.
The $5 trillion valuation comes merely three months after Nvidia first surpassed the $4 trillion mark. The company's stock has surged over 50% year-to-date, propelled by sustained demand for its graphics processing units (GPUs). These components are extensively utilized in data centers for training large language models and for inference processing, technologies central to the ongoing expansion of AI applications across various industries. The scarcity of these GPUs is noted as a factor in their sustained value within the data center ecosystem.
Nvidia's financial ascent aligns with a broader surge in tech stocks throughout the year, fueled by optimism regarding AI technology's potential to redefine global industries. This period has seen numerous multi-billion-dollar infrastructure deals, many involving Nvidia, aimed at expanding the compute capacity necessary for resource-intensive AI models. Notably, in September, Nvidia announced plans to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI, with both entities stating intentions to deploy 10 gigawatts (GW) worth of Nvidia systems to power OpenAI's operations. The company's current market capitalization exceeds the aggregated stock markets of all countries globally, with the exceptions of the United States, China, and Japan.
