AI Gold Rush: Nvidia Becomes the First USD 5 Trillion Company

Nvidia has made financial history, becoming the first company in the world to reach a USD 5 trillion market capitalization. The milestone, achieved on Wednesday, October 29, 2025, solidifies the chipmaker’s position as the central beneficiary of the global artificial intelligence (AI) boom.

A Meteoric Rise Driven by AI Chips

Nvidia's valuation surge reflects unrelenting demand for its specialised Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), which function as the computational backbone for training and running large language models like ChatGPT.

Just three months ago, Nvidia crossed the USD 4 trillion mark. This rapid accumulation of value demonstrates the immense capital flowing into the AI infrastructure sector. Its market cap of approximately USD 5.05 trillion now surpasses the combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of several major economies, including Japan, the UK, and India, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Historically, Apple was the first publicly traded company to break the USD 1 trillion, USD 2 trillion, and USD 3 trillion barriers, primarily driven by the success of the iPhone. Nvidia, however, has taken the lead in this new phase of market valuation driven by the data center and AI computation race.

Strategic Announcements Underpin the Rally

The record valuation came as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang unveiled a series of major deals and future plans, reinforcing the company's market dominance:

Massive Chip Orders: Huang disclosed a staggering USD 500 billion in AI chip orders, signaling robust revenue visibility for years to come.

Supercomputing Projects: The company announced a collaboration with the US Department of Energy to build seven new AI supercomputers.

Strategic Partnerships: Nvidia's reach extends beyond data centers through partnerships, including a collaboration with Uber on robotaxis and a USD 1 billion investment in Nokia to work on 6G technology and AI-native networks.

OpenAI Investment: The company previously committed a substantial amount, up to USD 100 billion, to OpenAI to build new AI data centers, significantly boosting computing capacity for the ChatGPT developer.

Geopolitics and Market Dominance

Nvidia's near-monopoly on high-end AI chips also makes it a key player in the geopolitical arena. US export controls on advanced semiconductors for China place the company at the center of the technology rivalry between Washington and Beijing. 

Nvidia’s journey from a niche graphics-chip designer to the indispensable foundation of the modern AI industry highlights how a single technology, accelerated computing, can fundamentally reshape global markets, corporate hierarchies, and economic discourse at an unprecedented speed.