Nvidia (NVDA, Financials) just crossed a milestone no company ever has before; on Wednesday, it became the first public firm in history to hit a $4 trillion market cap. Shares popped 2.5% to an all-time high of $164; the message from Wall Street is clear—AI is here, and Nvidia is leading the charge.
This time last year, Nvidia had just hit $1 trillion; now, in just over 12 months, it's quadrupled that figure—faster than either Apple (AAPL, Financials) or Microsoft (MSFT, Financials) ever managed. Once known for gaming GPUs; then for powering crypto mining rigs; Nvidia has reinvented itself again—now as the engine room of global AI infrastructure.
The company now carries the biggest weight on the S&P 500—7.3%; that's more than Apple; more than Microsoft. The stock is up 22% year-to-date; and after getting knocked down in April—thanks to Trump-era tariffs and Chinese AI jitters—it's bounced back fast, gaining 74% from those lows.
That rebound wasn't just hype; Q1 revenue jumped 69% to $44.1 billion, with earnings of 81 cents per share. And for Q2, Nvidia expects $45 billion in revenue, give or take 2%; it'll report those numbers on August 27. Despite the monster rally, the stock trades at a forward P/E of 32—below its three-year average of 37; that suggests investors don't think it's overheated just yet.
With that kind of trajectory—and dominance—some would argue this is Nvidia's world now; the rest of us are just living (and computing) in it.
