NVIDIA BECOMES WORLD’S FIRST $5 TRILLION COMPANY AMID SOARING AI DEMAND

Silicon Valley chipmaker Nvidia has become the first company in history to reach a $5 trillion market valuation, just three months after crossing the $4 trillion mark — underscoring the global frenzy surrounding artificial intelligence

The milestone cements Nvidia’s position at the forefront of the AI-driven technological revolution, often compared to the seismic shift sparked by Apple’s launch of the first iPhone 18 years ago. Apple had ridden that wave to become the first publicly traded company to hit the $1 trillion, $2 trillion, and eventually $3 trillion valuation milestones.

However, the meteoric rise in tech valuations has raised concerns of an AI bubble. Officials at the Bank of England recently warned of inflated tech stock prices driven by AI speculation, while the International Monetary Fund echoed similar apprehensions about potential volatility.

On Wednesday, Nvidia’s shares climbed to $207.86 in early trading, with 24.3 billion shares outstanding, pushing its market capitalisation to $5.05 trillion. To put this in perspective, Nvidia’s value now surpasses the GDP of India, Japan, and the United Kingdom, according to IMF data.

Nvidia’s ascent stems from its dominance in graphics processing units (GPUs) — chips originally designed for gaming that now power the world’s most advanced AI models, including ChatGPT and image-generation platforms. The company’s early move into AI chip development has created a massive lead over competitors as tech giants race to secure hardware for AI infrastructure.

Despite warnings of overheating markets, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has dismissed fears of an imminent correction.

“What was once merely interesting is now becoming indispensable — and profitable,” Huang remarked, referring to the growing utility of generative AI systems.

Huang is attending this week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Gyeongju, South Korea, where leaders from major economies including the US, China, and Japan are set to meet. The summit is expected to be overshadowed by a key sideline meeting between Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, amid rising trade tensions and US tariffs on advanced technology.

Ahead of the event, Huang announced $500 billion worth of chip orders, alongside a partnership with Uber to develop robotaxis and a $1 billion investment in Nokia to collaborate on 6G technologies. Nvidia is also joining forces with the US Department of Energy to build seven new AI supercomputers, further expanding its dominance in high-performance computing.

Last month, the company pledged a $100 billion investment in OpenAI, aimed at adding at least 10 gigawatts of Nvidia AI data centres to support ChatGPT and other large-scale AI applications.

Meanwhile, trade and policy discussions continue to shape Nvidia’s global footprint. In August, Huang confirmed talks with the Trump administration over a new AI chip tailored for the Chinese market. Shortly after, Trump announced a deal with Nvidia and AMD to lift export controls on chip sales to China in exchange for a 15 per cent revenue share, despite national security concerns.

In a further sign of its strategic expansion, Nvidia has also invested $5 billion in Intel, signalling collaboration with the struggling chipmaker at a time when geopolitical and economic currents continue to reshape the global semiconductor industry.