What happens when one chipmaker becomes more powerful than entire stock markets? Nvidia just made this a reality. On July 9, 2025 Nvidia hit $4trillion, and became the first company in the history to do so. This milestone is not just about financial achievement but it set its name as the center of power in the tech world. The company that was once known for powering video games, is now leading the global AI revolution.
Nividia’s stock went high up to $164.42 on wednesday and by the end of day it closed at 1.8%, giving the company a market value of about $3.97 trillion which is almost equal to $4 trillion. This marks it ahead of all other companies like Apple and Microsoft.
Reuters report that on July 9, 2025, Microsoft had a market valuation of $3.74 trillion, with Apple trailing behind around $3.15 trillion.
A NVIDIA logo is pictured on its facility at the High-tech park at Yokne’am, in northern Israel July 9, 2025. REUTERS/Shir Torem Purchase Licensing Rights
Reason behind this huge success
Nvidia’s value has tripled in just one year, which is highly impressive. Back in June 2023, it was worth $1 trillion. Now, just a year later, it’s close to $4 trillion. Apple and Microsoft took several years to grow this much. Nvidia did it in just 12 months, all due to its massive success in the AI chip market. It just shows that sometimes, success doesn’t have to come slowly, it can hit all at once, out of nowhere.
Most of the world’s most powerful AI tools, like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Meta’s Llama, and Amazon’s Bedrock, all depend on Nvidia to make the advanced chips that help these AI systems work quickly and efficiently. These chips are called GPUs (Graphics Processing Units). They were originally made for gaming and graphics, but now they’re widely used in AI because they can handle massive amounts of data at high speed.
Big tech companies rely on Nvidia’s GPUs to train and run their AI models. Without these chips, many of today’s AI breakthroughs would not be possible. This is the reason that Nvidia is often called the engine behind modern artificial intelligence. Because of this strong demand, Nvidia’s business is growing fast. In just the first three months of 2025, it made $44.1 billion, a 69% increase compared to last year. And in the next quarter, it expects to make around $45 billion more. Investors clearly see the potential, because AI continues to grow and with that, the chip demand will grow exponentially as well.
Impact on Rivals
With NVIDIA leading the way, others are under pressure. AMD stock has fallen by 3.2%, and the company is working hard to compete with NVIDIA GPUs, mainly through its MI300X chips. However, despite AMD’s efforts, the MI300X has not been able to match Nvidia’s performance. Furthermore, benchmarks show that Nvidia’s newer chips, such as H100, H200, and upcoming Blackwell, will continue to lead AMD’s chips.
Intel is even further behind in the race. According to Reuters, Intel is now trying to develop its own in-house AI chips. The company has struggled for years to establish itself in the AI hardware space, but still, it’s 3rd in the race after NVIDIA and AMD.
Nvidia’s value is greater than the combined value of all publicly traded companies in the UK. Right now, Nvidia makes up 7.3% of the S&P 500, which is more than Apple (7%) and Microsoft (6%). That means Nvidia alone is driving a big portion of the U.S. stock market’s growth.
On the flip side, Nvidia’s biggest customers, including Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, are facing scrutiny for their AI-related spending. These cloud giants are pouring billions into AI infrastructure, with much of it built on Nvidia’s technology.
But now, investors are starting to question whether this massive investment is sustainable. A Goldman Sachs report highlighted growing concerns over whether companies will see enough profit in return for their AI spending, especially with costs running into the trillions.
How Long Will it Last?
While Nvidia’s success seems unstoppable right now, a few warning signs are starting to show. First one is DeepSeek, which is an open-source AI model from China that is cheaper and more accessible. It made some experts wonder whether these open-source tools could eventually weaken Nvidia’s stronghold on the AI market.
At the same time, investors are starting to take a closer look at Nvidia’s financials, especially its price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio, which is currently at 32, slightly below its 3-year average. This has led to some concern that Nvidia’s stock might be overhyped or at risk if AI demand slows down.
However, competitors like AMD and Intel are no longer watching from the sidelines. In addition, big tech companies are now developing their own AI chips to cut down their reliance on Nvidia, which could impact the company’s future dominance if those efforts succeed.
Nvidia’s rise has been incredible, from a chipmaker powering video games to the backbone of the global AI boom. But it also comes with big questions along its success. Can Nvidia hold its lead as competitors close in? Will open-source AI and custom chips shake up the game?
However, it’s clear that the AI race has started and while Nvidia is way ahead for now, staying at the top might be an even bigger challenge.
