NVIDIA became the first $4 trillion company — here's how the tech giant beat Microsoft and Apple

NVIDIA was briefly worth $4 trillion this week. The tech giant passed that milestone and became the first $4 trillion company following a 2.5% increase in stock value at one point on July 9, 2025.

The valuation of NVIDIA has since dropped to around $3.97 trillion.

NVIDIA began 2025 behind Microsoft and Apple, but steady growth has pushed NVIDIA past other tech giants.

Growth is expected to continue for NVIDIA. The company provides computing power for several of the biggest AI tools, which has proven quite lucrative for the GPU maker.

How NVIDIA beat Microsoft and Apple

NVIDIA's surge to a $4 trillion valuation is due largely to the company's dominance in the AI space. As companies race to integrate AI into everything from computers to personal assistants, the demand for computing power increases.

Microsoft, Meta, OpenAI, Google, and other companies release AI-powered products regularly and have integrated AI into existing services.

Microsoft was reportedly NVIDIA's largest customer in 2024, outspending Meta, Google, and other tech giants.

ChatGPT launched in 2022, sparking an AI arms race. NVIDIA's value has increased fifteenfold since OpenAI released its AI-powered tool.

"Global demand for Nvidia's AI infrastructure is incredibly strong. AI inference token generation has surged tenfold in just one year, and as AI agents become mainstream, the demand for AI computing will accelerate," said NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang when discussing financial results in May 2025.

It was more than an initial surge for NVIDIA. The tech giant reached a $2 trillion valuation in February 2024 and then passed the $3 trillion mark just four months later.

NVIDIA's stock price now sits around $163, though that will fluctuate throughout the week. Shares are up about 22% on the year for NVIDIA.

NVIDIA stock dipped slightly, dropping the company's value to just under $4 trillion. But given recent trends, it is likely NVIDIA will pass the milestone again.

It's more than NVIDIA stock that's risen over the last few years. The company brought in $44.1 billion in revenue in the financial quarter ending in April 2025. That was a 69% year-over-year increase for the tech giant.