Nvidia (NVDA) on Wednesday became America's second🥂-most valuable company and only the third U.S. company to reach a market capitalization of $3 trillion, a major milestone the AI chipmaker has reached in record time.

Nvidia's Historic Surge

Nvidia shares surged 5.2% to $1,224.40 on Wednesday, launching it into the ranks of $3 trillion companies. The only other companies to have ever achieved the feat are Apple (AAPL), the first to do it, and Microsoft (MSFT), which is currentl🔴y the world's most valuable company with a market cap of more than $3.15 trillion.

Nvidia wasn’t the first co𝓰mpany to $3 trillion, but its ascent has been the steepest. Based on closing valuations, Microsoft took 649 calendar days ꦰto rise from $2 trillion to $3 trillion, while Apple took 718 days. Nvidia did it in 96 calendar days.

To be sure, Nvidia’s climb has coincided with a bull market, while Apple and Microsoft had to slog through 2022’s bear market to add their third trillion. Meanwhile, Nvidia’s 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:astronomical growth has, arguably, been ins🅰trumental in sustainin𒈔g today’s bull market. 

How Did We Get Here?

The chipmaker, once known for its top-of-the-line graphics cards used in gaming PCs, has consistently blown past 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:impossibly high earnings expectati♌ons over the last two years amid booming demand for artificial intelligence. In May, it reported that first-quarter revenue 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:tripled from the year before while profit rose sevenfold. 

Nvidia has established itself as the clear leader in AI semiconductors, and the company may have extended its lead Sunday when CEO Jensen Huang 澳洲🔜幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:unveiled its next-gene💦ration AI platform. The system, dubbed R𒈔ubin, will succeed Nvidia’s Blackwell platform, which was unveiled mere months ago, in 2025. Huang also said the company would double the pace at which it develops new chips to keep up with the breakneck speed 🧜of AI evolution. 

Analysts see plenty of room for Nvidia’s earnings and stock to run. Bank of America raised its price target on the stock to $1,500, the highest on Wall Street, following Sunday’s announcement. BofA analysts estimated that “converting global data centers to accelerated computing could require $250-$500bn annually and we are only 20-30% into that process that could last another 3-5 years.”

The stock’s rise has been meteoric. Shares have more than doubled in value so far this year after tripling last year. But by some measures, shares are cheap. In a separate BofA note on Wednesday, analysts estimated that shares currently trade at less than 1x the company’s 澳洲幸运🍨5官方开奖结果体彩网:price/earnings-to-growth ratio🌊 (PEG), far below the S&P 500 at about 2x PEG.