Nvidia’s stock rose by 2.8% on Wednesday morning, hitting a new record high of $164.42 per share.
This surge pushed the company’s market valuation to $4.01 trillion, making Nvidia the first publicly traded company in history to surpass the $4 trillion mark.
Nvidia now leads the list of the world’s most valuable companies, surpassing tech giants such as Microsoft ($3.7 trillion), Apple ($3.1 trillion), Amazon ($2.4 trillion), and Google’s parent company Alphabet ($2.2 trillion).
Big number:
Nearly 35,000% — that’s how much Nvidia’s stock price has increased over the past ten years. In comparison, the S&P 500 grew by about 260% during the same period (including dividends). A $1,000 investment in Nvidia in July 2015 would now be worth approximately $350,000.
Surprising fact:
Nvidia’s valuation has now exceeded the United Kingdom’s gross domestic product from last year, which stood at $3.9 trillion.
Background:
A decade ago, Nvidia was valued at just over $10 billion. In 2023, it passed the $1 trillion mark, and in 2024, it broke through $2 trillion and $3 trillion. The company’s rapid growth has closely mirrored the rise of generative AI tools like ChatGPT from OpenAI. Nvidia dominates the market for the hardware and software required to run these advanced systems, particularly its world-leading graphics processing units (GPUs), which are essential for training and running AI models.
Nvidia’s major clients include OpenAI, Tesla and xAI (both led by Elon Musk), Meta, and Amazon.
A humble beginning:
Nvidia was founded in 1993 following a conversation at a booth in a Denny’s diner between its three co-founders: Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky, and Curtis Priem.
Net worth:
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who once worked as a busboy at Denny’s, is now the ninth-richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of $142 billion. Most of his fortune comes from his 3.5% ownership in Nvidia.
