Nvidia hits new milestone as first $5T company (www.bbc.com)

Nvidia became the first company ever to reach a $5 trillion market capitalization, driven by surging demand for its AI-focused chips and investor optimism about its role in the generative-AI boom. The milestone underscores Nvidia’s transformation from a graphics-chip maker into the dominant supplier powering large language models and other AI systems—its Blackwell processors and data-center GPUs are now core infrastructure for companies like OpenAI and Oracle. CEO Jensen Huang said he expects roughly $500 billion in AI chip orders through next year, and Nvidia’s recent deals (including a reported $100 billion investment into OpenAI) illustrate how tightly the company is woven into the AI ecosystem. The valuation is significant for the AI/ML community because it signals where capital and compute are concentrating: massive chip demand, expanded partnerships, and accelerated model development. But it also raises practical and policy issues—geopolitics and supply access matter. A summer deal allowed Nvidia to resume selling advanced chips to China while directing 15% of Chinese revenues to the U.S. government, and China is aggressively developing its own chips. Market-watchers warn of an AI valuation bubble and complex cross-investments among leading AI firms, which could affect competition, regulation, and long-term hardware availability for researchers and startups.