Nvidia has become the world’s first company to hit a $4 trillion market valuation, a milestone driven by the explosive growth in artificial intelligence (AI). With a background in gaming and crypto chipmaking, Nvidia is now leading the AI revolution, leaving behind tech giants like Microsoft and Apple and even outpacing the total value of the entire crypto market.
Nvidia’s $4 Trillion Milestone
On Wednesday, Nvidia’s stock hit a record high of $164.32, briefly pushing its market capitalisation over $4 trillion, the first company in history to do so. Although its share price cooled slightly in after-hours trading to $163.36, it still maintains a market cap close to $3.98 trillion, according to Google Finance.
Market capitalisation is calculated by multiplying a company’s total number of outstanding shares by its current share price. Nvidia currently has 24.4 billion shares outstanding. Even with the slight dip, it holds a dominant lead over other major players in the tech space.
AI Boom Fuels Growth
The major driver behind Nvidia’s rise is the global demand for AI technology. The company’s chips are now essential components in everything from AI data centres to generative AI tools like ChatGPT and self-driving cars.
Industry experts highlight that businesses worldwide are now shifting spending towards AI, a trend that strongly benefits Nvidia. Robert Pavlik, a senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth, noted, “Companies are shifting their asset spend in the direction of AI and it’s pretty much the future of technology.”
Art Hogan from B Riley Wealth added that Nvidia has successfully evolved:
“It started with gaming, then crypto mining, and now it’s a leader in AI. Nvidia continues to move forward and be a clear early winner in artificial intelligence.”
A Strong Rebound After Early Setbacks
Despite its current success, 2025 hasn’t been smooth sailing for Nvidia. Earlier this year, the company faced a $600 billion market cap loss due to rising competition from Chinese AI chipmakers and U.S. export restrictions. It also lost around $5.5 billion in valuation earlier in the year amid investor fears.
However, Nvidia made a powerful comeback. In Q1 of 2025 alone, it reported over $44 billion in revenue and nearly $19 billion in earnings, a 26% increase compared to the same period last year.
Its stock has surged 21.3% year-to-date, easily outperforming the S&P 500, which has grown only 6.5% during the same timeframe.
Beating Big Tech and Crypto
Nvidia now leads the global market in terms of value, surpassing:
- Microsoft – $3.74 trillion
- Apple – $3.15 trillion
- Bitcoin – $2.2 trillion
- Entire crypto market – $3.53 trillion
This comparison is particularly striking for those in the crypto space. Nvidia, once a key hardware provider for crypto mining, is now worth more than the entire crypto industry combined. While Bitcoin recently revisited its all-time high, it still falls short of Nvidia’s valuation by over $1.8 trillion.
Nvidia’s rise is a clear sign of the shifting tech landscape. As AI becomes central to everything from business operations to digital experiences, Nvidia is positioned as the core enabler of this transformation.
For investors and crypto enthusiasts, this shift also sends a strong message: while decentralised technologies like crypto are still evolving, the AI boom is already delivering real-world value at unprecedented scale.
