Nvidia has become the first company in history to surpass a $5 trillion market capitalization.
This marks another milestone in its rise as the dominant force of the global artificial intelligence revolution.
Shares of the chipmaker jumped more than 3% at the market open on October 29, extending its remarkable run as the top corporate beneficiary of the AI surge.
The record valuation highlights the central role Nvidia’s graphics processing units (GPUs) play in powering AI models across industries — from cloud computing to autonomous vehicles.
Trump sparks optimism over China relations
Investor enthusiasm was further boosted by remarks from President Trump, who suggested progress in Nvidia’s strained relationship with China. Ahead of a planned meeting with CEO Jensen Huang, Trump said the two would be “speaking about Blackwells,” referencing Nvidia’s next-generation AI chips.
Reports indicate that a modified version of the Blackwell chip could receive approval for export to China — potentially easing U.S.-China tech tensions. Nvidia’s most recent earnings report (August 27) showed no sales of its older H20 chips to China, despite a proposed White House deal allowing limited exports in exchange for a 15% revenue share — a plan Nvidia said remained unfinalized.
Any renewed access to China’s vast AI hardware market would represent a major growth opportunity as Beijing continues its aggressive pursuit of domestic AI development.
Expansion and partnerships
Nvidia’s record-breaking moment coincided with major announcements from its GTC event in Washington, D.C., where Huang described the company as the engine of a “new industrial revolution” powered by AI infrastructure and “AI factories that generate intelligence at scale.”
Key highlights included:
- Supercomputing: Collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy to build seven new supercomputers, including one featuring 10,000 Blackwell GPUs.
- New industry partnerships: Deals with Uber for autonomous fleets and Eli Lilly for AI-driven drug discovery.
- Telecom innovation: Partnerships with Nokia, Cisco, and T-Mobile to accelerate 6G network development.
- Enterprise integration: Alliances with Oracle and Palantir to embed Nvidia AI into enterprise systems.
- Quantum leap: Introduction of NVQLink, an open architecture advancing quantum supercomputing in collaboration with Rigetti and IonQ.
These moves reinforce Nvidia’s strategy to position its platforms at the core of every major tech frontier — spanning healthcare, telecommunications, and advanced research.
Financial performance and market context
Nvidia’s growth continues to outpace expectations. The company reported over $100 billion in revenue during the first half of the year and projects $500 billion in GPU sales by 2026.
Its stock has soared more than 50% in 2025, doubling since April despite volatility following Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcements. The rally has also propelled the S&P 500 to new highs. As of October 29, Nvidia shares traded at $210.09, up 4.51% on the day.
Rising competition in the AI chip race
While Nvidia remains the clear leader, competition is heating up. AMD recently secured deals with OpenAI for up to 6 gigawatts of AI processors and with Oracle for 50,000 GPUs. Qualcomm also entered the race with new AI accelerator chips targeting data centers.
Meanwhile, Nvidia’s largest customers — Amazon, Google, and Microsoft — are developing their own AI chips to reduce dependence on Nvidia’s hardware, a trend that could challenge its long-term market share.
Still, Nvidia stands unrivaled in both technology and profitability. Its dominance underscores not only the scale of the AI revolution but also the geopolitical and economic importance of the chips driving it.
Earlier this month, at the Open Compute Project (OCP) Global Summit, Nvidia shared its plans for what it calls “giga-scale artificial intelligence factories.”