Nvidia touches $4 trillion valuation, highest for any modern firm

Nvidia's stock surged more than 2 per cent on Wednesday, propelling the chipmaking giant past USD 4 trillion market valuation for the first time in history, as investors continue to pile into the company powering the generative AI revolution.

The milestone cements Nvidia as the world's most valuable company, overtaking previous leaders Microsoft and Apple, both of which peaked at the $3 trillion mark. Microsoft, notably, is one of Nvidia's largest and most strategic customers, integrating Nvidia hardware into its cloud and AI infrastructure.

Founded in 1993, the California-based firm first crossed the $2 trillion threshold in February 2024, then shot past $3 trillion in June. 

Its climb has been driven almost entirely by its dominance in producing graphics processing units (GPUs)—the critical hardware that powers modern AI systems, including large language models like ChatGPT.

Shares in Nvidia have risen more than fifteenfold in the last five years, with the stock gaining over 22 per cent since the start of 2025, and 15 per cent in the past month alone, despite increasing geopolitical tensions and US restrictions on chip exports to China.

Last month, Nvidia disclosed that US curbs on its H20 chips, designed specifically for the Chinese market, would cost the company an estimated USD8 billion in lost revenue. 

"The $50 billion China market is effectively closed to US industry," said CEO Jensen Huang during a May earnings call. Huang previously warned that exclusion from China would be a "tremendous loss" for Nvidia.

Despite these setbacks, Nvidia has maintained an unassailable lead in the global GPU market, ahead of rivals such as AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) and Intel. 

While AMD has made gains with its Instinct series and Intel continues to develop its Gaudi AI accelerators, both companies trail Nvidia in terms of market share, performance, and software ecosystem support.