On June 18, 2024, NVIDIA became the most valuable company in the world with a market value of $3.34 trillion, surpassing giants such as Microsoft, Apple, Samsung and Alphabet. How did a company founded in 1993 manage to achieve this historic feat?
Something happened that took the entire tech world by surprise. NVIDIA, a company most people know for their graphics cards, became the most valuable company in the world on June 18, 2024. With a market value of $3.34 trillion, they surpassed giants such as Microsoft, Apple, Samsung and Alphabet. What has enabled the company, founded in 1993, to achieve this incredible turnaround? Let's take a closer look at how NVIDIA achieved this milestone and what their future plans are.
A brief history of NVIDIA: From its founding to today
NVIDIA was founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang together with two colleagues. The story goes that Jensen, once an assistant waiter at a local Denny's restaurant, quickly found his passion in computer science. After a successful career at AMD as a microprocessor designer, Jensen had an idea that changed the world of computing forever.
In a legendary meeting at Denny's, Jensen and a colleague conceived the company that would become NVIDIA. The company's name comes from the Latin word “Invidia,” which means envy, which they wanted to emphasize that their future chips will be the envy of the competition.
The first big success: GeForce 256 and the GPU revolution
In 1999, NVIDIA released the GeForce 256, the first chip to be marketed as a graphics processing unit (GPU). This innovation enabled parallel processing, which significantly accelerated the rendering of graphics in games and relieved the load on central processing units (CPUs). The GPU quickly became indispensable in the world of games and consoles, bringing NVIDIA worldwide recognition.
The GeForce 256 was the first step in the direction that led NVIDIA to dominate the graphics card market. With constant improvements and the release of new generations of GPUs, NVIDIA has overtaken its traditional rival, AMD, to the point where they are now far ahead of them in terms of revenue. In the first quarter of 2024, NVIDIA generated $26 billion in revenue, while AMD generated a meager $5.5 billion.
Bet on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and CUDA
In 2006, NVIDIA took a step into the world of artificial intelligence with the release of CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture). This software platform allowed application developers to take advantage of the full power of NVIDIA graphics cards for non-graphics tasks as well. It was a watershed moment, as NVIDIA cards became a tool for video editors, financial analysts, cryptocurrency miners, and especially for companies that wanted to build and train powerful AI models.
CUDA allowed developers to use thousands of cores in NVIDIA GPUs for parallel processing, which was extremely useful for applications that require a lot of computing power. The move made NVIDIA's graphics cards the gold standard for anyone looking to perform complex computational tasks, from video processing to financial market modeling and cryptocurrency mining.
Explosive growth and the AI revolution
Through its vision and collaboration with other technology companies, NVIDIA has become a cornerstone of artificial intelligence. Companies like Tesla are using NVIDIA GPUs for their supercomputing clusters, enabling advancements in self-driving cars. NVIDIA technology is involved in many applications that have become essential in the modern world.
As AI development has exploded over the past few years, NVIDIA cards have become a key element in that process. Artificial intelligence requires a huge amount of computing power, which can only be provided by the parallel processing of GPUs. NVIDIA has become the default choice for AI researchers and developers, which has greatly contributed to their growth.
Popularity and availability of stocks
NVIDIA also conducted a 10:1 stock split, making the stock more accessible to new investors. This move was smart at a time when the whole world was looking for ways to invest in artificial intelligence. This made the shares more accessible and attractive to a wider range of investors, which further fueled the company's growth.
NVIDIA's impact on the future
Although NVIDIA is currently in third place by market value due to a market correction, it is clear that artificial intelligence is not going anywhere. The world is becoming increasingly digitized, from movies being made using game drives to surgeons preparing for operations with the help of digital twins of patients. NVIDIA is at the center of this digital revolution, with their technology powering everything from video games to advanced medical procedures.
NVIDIA has become a key player in the world of artificial intelligence and digital technology. Their vision, innovation and strategic moves have led them to the position they have today. In the future, they are likely to continue to play a key role in shaping technological progress and digital transformation.
Conclusion
NVIDIA's journey from humble beginnings in a Denny's restaurant to the most valuable company in the world is an incredible story of innovation, vision and flexibility. Although they are currently in third place, their role in the world of artificial intelligence and the digital future remains indispensable. NVIDIA is proof that with the right vision and strategic moves, a company can reach heights that seem unattainable. NVIDIA's story is proof that the future of technology is full of unexpected twists and innovations that will continue to shape our world.
