Nvidia became the first company to reach a US$3 trillion market capitalization in 2024, driven by demand for AI chips.
Nvidia crossed US$3 trillion on June 5, 2024, as investors continued to value its graphics-processing units and related data-center technology. Its chips became central infrastructure for training and running generative artificial-intelligence systems.
Nvidia began in 1993 as a graphics-chip company and became especially well known for GPUs used in computer games. Its CUDA software platform helped developers use those processors for broader parallel-computing workloads, including machine learning.
Nvidia’s rise illustrates why market-cap rankings can change rapidly. The company later moved above Apple and Microsoft at points in 2024, but those rankings were not permanent. Market capitalization measures the value investors assign to shares, not the physical value of Nvidia’s factories or inventory.