Nvidia’s journey to a $5.05 trillion valuation is a story of strategic dominance, led by its CEO, Jensen Huang. The company crossed the historic $5 trillion threshold on Wednesday, driven by a series of blockbuster announcements and overwhelming demand for its AI-powering chips.
Huang himself revealed the scale of this demand, disclosing a $500 billion backlog in chip orders. This comes as the company diversifies its reach, announcing a partnership with Uber for robotaxis, a $1 billion investment in Nokia to build 6G, and a deal with the US Department of Energy for seven new AI supercomputers.
The most significant partnership is with OpenAI. Nvidia is investing $100 billion into the AI leader, a move that will fund a massive expansion of OpenAI’s computing infrastructure using Nvidia’s own technology. This move firmly cements Nvidia as the central provider for the AI revolution.
CEO Jensen Huang has also garnered high-profile political backing from President Donald Trump. Trump, who owns Nvidia shares, called Huang an “incredible guy” and has suggested he will negotiate with Chinese President Xi Jinping about chip sales, potentially opening another massive market for the company.
This rapid growth, which saw the company add $1 trillion in value in three months, is drawing comparisons to the iPhone boom. But it’s also attracting skepticism. The IMF and the Bank of England have warned of an AI bubble, and critics point to the circular $100bn OpenAI deal and the high failure rate of corporate AI pilots as signs of unsustainable hype.