Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) just became the first listed company to hit a $4 trillion market valuation, capping off a run that’s felt more like a tech fever dream than a traditional stock rally.
Shares rose over 2% in early Wall Street trading on Wednesday, putting Nvidia ahead of both Microsoft and Apple in the market cap race.
This time last year, Nvidia had only just crossed the $3 trillion mark. Now, it’s adding a trillion a year,a pace that makes even Big Tech look sluggish. The group’s share price has exploded by more than 400,000% since its 1999 debut, a stat so absurd it barely feels real.
What’s fuelling it? The AI boom, plain and simple. Nvidia’s chips sit at the centre of the artificial intelligence gold rush, and it’s not just selling hardware, it’s selling the infrastructure, the full-stack ecosystem of software and developer tools that keeps the whole thing running.
Still, there’s more than just tech exuberance at play. Markets are in full risk-on mode, helped along by Donald Trump’s tariff threats not (yet) turning into full-blown trade action. The so-called “TACO” trade (Trump Always Chickens Out) has helped keep broader indices flying, despite persistent fears over AI regulation, competition from cheaper rivals, and geopolitical risk.
For now, Nvidia’s lead seems unshakeable. It accounts for more than 7% of the entire S&P 500, a level of market concentration that will have some investors watching nervously. One misstep, and the ripple effect could be huge.
But analysts aren’t calling the top just yet. With earnings still growing fast, and valuations arguably not as frothy as they look, Nvidia remains the poster child for the AI revolution, and Wall Street’s dominant force, at least for now.