The eye-watering numbers that make Nvidia worth more than almost every country

Chip-maker Nvidia last month became the first public company to reach a market capitalisation of US$5 trillion ($8.9 trillion).

In 2024 GDP terms it’s worth more than every country on earth other than the US, China and Germany.

Then this week the company reported more eye-catching numbers for its fiscal third quarter, with net income jumping 65% and revenue increasing 62% from a year earlier.

The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company's chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.

Nvidia carved out an early lead in tailoring its chipsets known as graphics processing units, or GPUs.

They’re used from powering video games to helping to train powerful AI systems, like the technology behind ChatGPT and image generators.

Demand skyrocketed as more people began using AI chatbots. Tech companies scrambled for more chips to build and run them.

Nvidia’s journey to be one of the world's most prominent companies has produced some extraordinary numbers. Here’s a look.

Nvidia's net income for the third quarter, up from US$19.3 billion a year ago.

Nvidia stock's gain for the year, as of the close of trading Wednesday. That follows gains of 171% in 2024 and 239% in 2023.

Nvidia’s total market capitalisation as of the close of trading on Wednesday US time, tops in the S&P 500.

Apple at US$3.98 trillion and Microsoft at US$3.62 trillion were next among the most valuable companies in the S&P 500. In all, nine companies in the index have market caps above US$1 trillion.

The gross domestic product of Japan, the world’s fourth largest economy, according to the International Monetary Fund.

The number of trading days it took for Nvidia's market cap to grow from US$4 trillion to US$5 trillion earlier this year. The market cap had jumped from US$3 trillion on May 13, to US$4 trillion on July 9 (41 trading days), although Nvidia had crossed and fallen back below the US$3 trillion threshold a number of times between June 2024 and May 2025 before making the run to US$4 trillion.

The company's contribution to the gain in the S&:P 500 this year as of Oct. 31, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.

The net worth of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, according to Forbes, putting him eighth on its Real-Time Billionaires List. Elon Musk is No. 1 at US$467.7 billion.

Additional reporting 1News.co.nz