By Emmanuel Nduka Obisue
Nvidia has become the world’s first company to reach a $5 trillion market valuation, marking a new milestone for the global technology industry and underscoring the power of the artificial intelligence boom.
The chipmaker’s shares surged more than 5% at the start of trading on Wednesday, fuelled by hopes that former U.S. President Donald Trump may ease export restrictions and allow the company to sell more of its advanced products in China.
The latest rally pushed Nvidia’s valuation past the $5 trillion mark for the first time, just months after it became the first firm to hit $4 trillion in July. Its value now rivals the annual output of Germany’s economy, exceeds the combined worth of the entire FTSE 100 by nearly 50%, and stands 19 times higher than AstraZeneca, Britain’s most valuable listed company.
Founded in 1993, Nvidia took three decades to reach a $1 trillion valuation in 2023 but has since quintupled in worth amid soaring global demand for its powerful chips that train and run artificial intelligence systems.
The company’s stock has surged by more than 1,000% since the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022 – a software that relies heavily on Nvidia’s graphics processing units. The AI frenzy has also lifted the valuations of other tech giants, with Microsoft and Apple both crossing the $4 trillion mark this week.
Despite growing concerns that the sector is experiencing a speculative bubble similar to the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, Nvidia’s founder and chief executive, Jensen Huang, insists the momentum is grounded in real demand.
“I don’t believe we’re in an AI bubble,” Huang told Bloomberg. “All of these different AI models we’re using – we’re using plenty of services and paying happily to do it”.
Huang, whose personal fortune has now risen to about $174 billion, is among the biggest beneficiaries of Nvidia’s meteoric rise.
Trump said on Wednesday that he plans to discuss Nvidia’s high-end Blackwell chips with Chinese President Xi Jinping when they meet later this week. U.S. export restrictions have prevented the company from selling its most advanced semiconductors in China, meaning any breakthrough could open significant new markets.
Nvidia has also faced scrutiny over claims it is inflating the AI boom through so-called “circular” investments, including a reported $100 billion stake in OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT.
Despite the controversies, Nvidia’s latest valuation milestone cements its position as the dominant force in the AI-driven technology era and highlights the extraordinary investor confidence shaping the future of global innovation.
