Nvidia becomes world’s first US$5 trillion company as AI boom powers meteoric rise

NEW YORK - Nvidia made history on Oct 29 as the first company to reach US$5 trillion (S$6.5 trillion) in market value, powered by a stunning rally that has cemented its place at the centre of the global artificial intelligence boom.

The milestone underscores the company’s swift transformation from a niche graphics chip designer into the backbone of the global AI industry, turning its founder and chief executive Jensen Huang into a Silicon Valley icon and making its advanced chips a flashpoint in the tech rivalry between the United States and China.

Since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, Nvidia’s shares have climbed 12-fold as the AI frenzy propelled the S&P 500 to record highs, igniting a debate on whether frothy tech valuations could lead to the next big bubble.

The new milestone, coming just three months after Nvidia breached the US$4 trillion mark, would surpass the total cryptocurrency market value and equal roughly half the size of Europe’s benchmark equities index, the Stoxx 600 index.

“In the long run, we expect tech titans to strive to find second sources or in-house solutions to diversify away from Nvidia in AI, but these efforts will, at best, only chip away at, but not supplant, Nvidia’s AI dominance,” said Morningstar senior equity analyst Brian Colello.

Nvidia shares rallied 3 per cent to US$207.04 on Oct 29 after a string of recent announcements solidified its dominance in the AI race.

Mr Huang unveiled US$500 billion in AI chip orders on Oct 28 and said he plans to build seven supercomputers for the US government.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump is expected to discuss Nvidia’s Blackwell chip with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Oct 30.

Sales of the high-end chip have been a key sticking point between the two sides due to Washington’s export controls.

At current prices, Mr Huang’s stake in Nvidia would be worth about US$177.3 billion, making him the world’s eighth-richest person, per Forbes’ billionaire list.

Born in Taiwan and raised in the US from age nine, Mr Huang has led Nvidia since founding it in 1993.

Under his leadership, the company’s H100 and Blackwell processors have become the engines behind large-language models powering tools such as ChatGPT and Elon Musk’s xAI.

While Nvidia remains the clear front runner in the AI race, Big Tech peers such as Apple and Microsoft have also crossed US$4 trillion in market value in recent months.

Analysts say the rally reflects investor confidence in unrelenting AI spending, though some warn valuations may be running hot.

“AI’s current expansion relies on a few dominant players financing each other’s capacity. The moment investors start demanding cash flow returns instead of capacity announcements, some of these flywheels could seize,” said Tuttle Capital Management CEO Matthew Tuttle.

Tech companies’ heavy weightage in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 gives them broad influence over global markets.

Nvidia is due to report quarterly results on Nov 19.

The company’s dominance has drawn global regulatory scrutiny, with US export curbs on advanced chips making it a key pawn in Washington’s strategy to limit China’s access to AI technology.

“Nvidia clearly brought their story to DC to both educate and gain favour with the US government,” said TECHnalysis Research chief analyst Bob O’Donnell of. “They managed to hit most of the hottest and most influential topics in tech.”

The developer conference on Oct 28 also served as a platform for Mr Huang to walk a geopolitical tightrope.

He praised Mr Trump’s “America First” policies for accelerating domestic tech investment, while warning that excluding China from Nvidia’s ecosystem could limit US access to half of the world’s AI developers.

Rivals including Advanced Micro Devices and several well-funded start-ups are seeking to challenge Nvidia’s dominance in high-end AI chips, but it remains the industry’s top choice. REUTERS