Nvidia may soon join the $1 trillion tech club
Want more proof that artificial intelligence is a big business? Chip giant Nvidia, a leader in AI technology, is on the verge of joining an exclusive list of companies 12 zeroes in their market valuation.
Nvidia’s stock soared more than 25% Thursday morning on its blowout earnings and stellar outlook. That pushed its market cap up to nearly $950 billion. Currently, only four companies in the US are worth at least a trillion dollars: Apple, Microsoft, Google owner Alphabet and Amazon.
AI is a big driver of the strong results and guidance.
“The computer industry is going through two simultaneous transitions — accelerated computing and generative AI,” said Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang, in the earnings release.
“A trillion dollars of installed global data center infrastructure will transition from general purpose to accelerated computing as companies race to apply generative AI into every product, service and business process.”
Nvidia is now far and away the largest semiconductor stock by market cap. AMD, which surged 8% Thursday thanks to Nvidia, is worth about $190 billion. Dow component Intel, which has struggled to keep pace with Nvidia and AMD, tumbled 5% Thursday and now has a market cap below $115 billion.
Sure, there may now be a lot of froth in the AI sector. Smaller AI stocks such as C3.ai (which even as the ticker symbol AI), BigBear.ai and SoundHound AI have all surged this year in part to hype about ChatGPT and other AI technology. But just as the advent of the internet and e-commerce and smartphones transformed the world of tech, it looks like AI is poised to be as revolutionary a trend.