News update
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion.
The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
Nvidia carved out an early lead in tailoring its chipsets known as graphics processing units, or GPUs, from use in powering video games to helping to train powerful AI systems, like the technology behind ChatGPT and image generators. Demand skyrocketed as more people began using AI chatbots. Tech companies scrambled for more chips to build and run them.
Nvidia’s journey to be one of the world’s most prominent companies has produced some eye-popping numbers. Here’s a look.
News update 23%
The percentage of stock-focused mutual funds and exchange traded funds tracked by Morningstar Direct with exposure to Nvidia. That’s 1,435 out of 6,198, and the exposure totaled about $1.3 trillion in market value across all the funds.
News update $5.03 trillion
Nvidia’s total market capitalization as of the close of trading Wednesday, tops in the S&P 500.
Microsoft at $4.025 trillion and Apple at $4 trillion were next among the most valuable companies in the S&P 500. In all, nine companies in the index have market cap’s above $1 trillion.
News update 79
The number of trading days it took for Nvidia’s market cap to grow from $4 trillion to $5 trillion. The market cap had jumped from $3 trillion on May 13, to $4 trillion on July 9 (41 trading days), although Nvidia had crossed and fallen back below the $3 trillion threshold a number of times between June 2024 and May 2025 before making the run to $4 trillion.
News update 18.6%
The company’s contribution to the gain in the S&:P 500 this year as of Sept. 30, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. Nvidia shares gained 39% in the first nine months of the year.
News update $179.6 billion
The net worth of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, according to Forbes, putting him eighth on its Real-Time Billionaires List. Elon Musk is No. 1 at $500.2 billion.
News update $4.28 trillion
The gross domestic product of Japan, the world’s fourth largest economy, according to the International Monetary Fund.
News update $24.2 billion
The amount of money Nvidia said it returned to shareholders in the form of stock buybacks and dividends in the first half of fiscal 2026.
