Nvidia becomes first company to cross US$4 trillion in market value

NEW YORK – Nvidia became the first company to touch US$4 trillion (S$5 trillion) in market value on July 9, a new milestone in Wall Street’s bet that artificial intelligence (AI) will transform the global economy.

Shortly after the stock market opened, Nvidia vaulted as high as US$164.42, giving it a valuation above US$4 trillion. The stock later pared gains to close up 1.8 per cent at US$162.88, just under the record threshold.

“The market has an incredible certainty that AI is the future,” said Mr Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers. “Nvidia is certainly the company most positioned to benefit from that gold rush.”

Nvidia, led by electrical engineer Jensen Huang, now has a market value greater than the gross domestic product of France, Britain or India, a testament to investor confidence that AI will spur a new era of robotics and automation.

The US chip giant’s latest surge is helping drive a recovery in the broader stock market, as Nvidia itself outperforms major indices.

Part of this is due to relief that US President Donald Trump has walked back his most draconian tariffs, which pummelled global markets in early April.

Even as Mr Trump announced new tariff actions in recent days, US stocks have stayed at lofty levels, with the tech-centered Nasdaq ending at a fresh record on July 9.

While Nvidia still faces US export controls to China and broader tariff uncertainty, the firm’s deal to build AI infrastructure in Saudi Arabia during a Trump state visit in May showed a potential upside in the US President’s trade policy.

In the most recent quarter, Nvidia reported earnings of nearly US$19 billion despite a US$4.5 billion hit from US export controls limiting sales of cutting-edge technology to China.

In 2025 so far, the company’s shares have risen more than 21 per cent, whereas the Nasdaq has gained 6.7 per cent.

Taiwan-born Mr Huang has wowed investors with a series of advances, including its core product: graphics processing units (GPUs), key to many of the generative AI programs behind autonomous driving, robotics and other cutting-edge domains.

The firm has also unveiled its Blackwell next-generation technology allowing more super processing capacity. One of its advances is “real-time digital twins”, significantly speeding production development time in manufacturing, aerospace and myriad other sectors.

Nvidia’s winning streak was challenged early in 2025 when China-based DeepSeek shook up the world of generative AI with a low-cost, high-performance model that challenged the hegemony of OpenAI and other big-spending behemoths.

Nvidia’s lost some US$600 billion in market valuation in a single session during this period.

But a recent UBS survey of technology executives showed Nvidia widening its lead over rivals.

CFRA Research tech analyst Angelo Zino said Nvidia’s latest surge reflected a fuller understanding of DeepSeek, which has ultimately stimulated investment in complex reasoning models but not threatened Nvidia’s business.

“Overall the demand landscape has improved for 2026 for these more complex reasoning models,” he said. AFP