Nvidia was the first semiconductor maker to reach a $1 trillion market capitalization.
Nvidia crossed the $1 trillion threshold in May 2023 as investors responded to surging demand for its graphics processors and artificial-intelligence computing systems. Its chips became central to training and running large AI models, including systems used in data centers.
Nvidia began in 1993 as a graphics-chip company and became especially known for GPUs used in computer graphics and gaming. The same parallel-processing capabilities later made its products valuable for scientific computing and machine learning.
The milestone concerns Nvidia’s stock-market value, not the value of all semiconductors it sells. It also differs from later milestones involving the broader technology sector: Nvidia’s valuation rose rapidly as AI investment expanded, while older chip companies such as Intel had historically been major manufacturers and designers.