Nvidia, the first company to surpass $4 trillion in capitalization on Wall Street

Semiconductor giant Nvidia on Wednesday became the first U.S. company to break the $4 trillion barrier in market capitalization, boosted by the rise of artificial intelligence (AI).

Nvidia shares were up 2.64% at $164.07 on the New York Stock Exchange around noon. "Nvidia is the strongest stock in the market right now," reckoned Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investments.

"The market is a reflection of the economy. And the strongest sectors of the economy by far are technology and artificial intelligence. That's why Nvidia is worth so much and continues to grow," the analyst noted.

The 4 trillion market capitalization of Nvidia, led by electrical engineer Jensen Huang, represents a figure larger than the Gross Domestic Product of France, the United Kingdom and India.

This new milestone demonstrates investor confidence that AI will drive a new era of robotics and automation by boosting productivity and challenging traditional sectors.

"Nvidia's chips as a bargaining chip"

The Californian company's recent growth is basically driving the stock market's recovery.

This is partly due to the relief generated by the withdrawal of President Trump's most drastic tariffs, which hit global markets in early April.

Despite the Republican leader's announcement of new tariff measures in recent days, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have remained near records. "We've seen the markets support us in the worst-case scenario on tariffs," said Angelo Zino, technology analyst at CFRA Research.

While Nvidia still faces U.S. export controls to China, the deal struck by the company to build AI infrastructure in Saudi Arabia during a Trump state visit in May showed that the U.S. president's trade policy also had upside potential.

"We have seen the administration using Nvidia chips as a bargaining chip," Zino added.

Optimistic for 2026

Nvidia's recent surge to $4 billion marks a new milestone in a steady climb over the past two years as enthusiasm for AI grows.

So far in 2025, the company's stock is up more than 20%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq index has seen more muted growth of more than 6%.

In the latest quarter, Nvidia reported earnings of nearly $19 billion despite a $4.5 billion hit due to U.S. export controls designed to limit sales of cutting-edge technology to China.

The first-quarter results period also revealed that AI momentum remained solid across the tech industry. Many of the largest tech companies, such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Meta, are competing with each other to win the AI race.

A recent UBS survey of technology executives showed that Nvidia is widening its lead over rivals.