Nvidia became the first chipmaker valued at more than $1 trillion in May 2023.
Nvidia’s market capitalization briefly passed $1 trillion during trading on 30 May 2023. The milestone followed a sharp rise in demand for its graphics processing units, or GPUs, which are widely used to train and run artificial-intelligence systems.
The company began in 1993 as a specialist in graphics hardware for computers and video games. Its CUDA software platform later helped make its processors useful for general-purpose computing, including machine learning and data-center workloads.
Nvidia is often described as a semiconductor company, while TSMC is primarily a contract manufacturer that fabricates chips designed by other firms. That distinction explains why Nvidia, rather than TSMC, is commonly identified as the first chip designer to cross the trillion-dollar valuation mark.