^{Photo: South China Morning Post}

Nvidia Reaches Record-Breaking Milestone
Nvidia shares soared nearly 3% on Tuesday, propelling the semiconductor giant’s market capitalization beyond $4.5 trillion for the first time. This milestone cements Nvidia as not only the world’s most valuable chipmaker but also one of the top-performing stocks of 2025. The company’s stock has surged nearly 39% this year alone, driven by its pivotal role in fueling the artificial intelligence revolution.

AI Deal-Making Fuels the Momentum
The latest rally comes on the back of a flurry of landmark partnerships and investments. OpenAI recently revealed that Nvidia will invest up to $100 billion in the AI pioneer, an agreement that includes building vast data center infrastructure powered by Nvidia’s graphics processing units (GPUs). These facilities are part of OpenAI’s ambitious “Stargate” project—a $500 billion initiative, developed alongside Oracle, to establish five massive data centers filled with hundreds of thousands of Nvidia GPUs.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has underscored the company’s central role, noting that Nvidia hardware represents roughly 70% of the capital expenditure in new AI data centers worldwide.

Analyst Upgrades and Investor Confidence
Wall Street analysts continue to raise expectations. Citi boosted its price target for Nvidia from $200 to $210 following the OpenAI announcements, citing accelerated growth in AI infrastructure spending. “We believe OpenAI came to Nvidia asking for help because Nvidia offers the most compelling product, especially as AI workloads per user continue to grow,” wrote Citi analyst Atif Malik in a client note.

This bullish sentiment has kept Nvidia’s stock outperforming most of its megacap peers, with only Broadcom—up nearly 40% in 2025—showing stronger returns among chipmakers.

Global Tech Giants Increasingly Depend on Nvidia
The OpenAI deal is just one piece of Nvidia’s expansive growth story. Major tech players including Meta, Google, and Microsoft are racing to expand AI infrastructure, with Nvidia’s GPUs at the heart of their buildouts. On Tuesday, CoreWeave—a cloud provider where Nvidia holds a significant stake—announced a $14.2 billion deal to supply Meta with AI infrastructure services. This move further extends Nvidia’s influence in powering generative AI at a global scale.

The Broader Impact of Nvidia’s Rise
Nvidia’s dominance in GPUs has transformed it from a high-end gaming chipmaker into the backbone of the world’s AI economy. With AI adoption accelerating across industries from healthcare to finance, demand for Nvidia’s chips shows no signs of slowing. The company now manages to capture the lion’s share of AI-related spending, making it a cornerstone for investors betting on the long-term future of artificial intelligence.

As the company continues to secure multi-billion-dollar deals, its $4.5 trillion valuation signals both Wall Street’s confidence and the growing recognition that Nvidia is not just a hardware company—it is the infrastructure provider of the AI era.