Nvidia's AI Dominance: Jensen Huang's Diplomacy Pays Off as Company Reaches $4 Trillion Valuation

Jensen Huang's deft handling of U.S.-China tensions cements status as more than a CEO

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has already ascended to rockstar status within the tech community. Now, after securing Washington's approval to restart AI chip sales in China, Nvidia investors are wondering: Is there anything he can't do? "Jensen is a salesman, as well as a statesman, as well as an architect, as well as an engineer, as well as a genius," Jim Cramer said Wednesday morning on CNBC. "He knows he has to tell the story." Huang has been telling the same story since April, when the Trump administration tightened Biden-era rules: Locking Nvidia out of the Chinese AI market -- home to half of the world's artificial intelligence researchers -- on national security grounds will actually undermine U.S. tech leadership across the globe. "Because there are so many developers there and because the world is going to adopt technology from one country or another -- and we prefer it to be the American technology stack," Huang told Jim in May . Of course, the Trump administration's April decision also cost Nvidia billions of dollars in lost Chinese sales, a fact the company readily acknowledged. But for the most part, Huang kept his criticism of the policy focused on what he argued are the negative implications for the entire U.S. tech industry, one of the country's economic crown jewels, amid rising competition in China. He made the case often and all over -- on earnings calls , in interviews on TV, and in the halls of the U.S. Capitol Building and at industry conferences . The White House reversal, made public late Monday in an Nvidia press release, suggests that Huang's argument broke through. In that statement, the world's most valuable company by market capitalization said it expects to "soon" receive U.S. government licenses to sell its H20 chips to Chinese customers. The H20 is a throttled-back version of Nvidia's top-end AI chips -- designed specifically for the Chinese market to comply with Washington's previous export rules. Speaking from Beijing on Wednesday, in at least his third public visit to China so far this year, Huang sought to downplay his impact on Washington's about-face on the H20. He said the decision was "completely in control" of the U.S. and Chinese governments, which for months have been engaged in trade talks following Trump's tariff escalation. "The discussion has nothing to do with me," Huang said. Jim and other bulls on Wall Street aren't buying it. Instead, they're heaping praise on the way the Nvidia boss has cultivated a relationship with President Donald Trump -- including traveling alongside him to the Middle East in May, when Nvidia was on the receiving end of a separate favorable Trump policy shift -- at the same time, he's avoided the ire of Beijing and maintained the adoration of Chinese techies. Before his latest visit to China, Huang met with Trump last week. In April, Nvidia also committed to produce up to $500 billion in AI infrastructure in the U.S. over the next four years. "You're seeing what you get with one of the world's best CEOs of all time, maybe the best," Melius Research tech analyst Ben Reitzes said Wednesday on CNBC. "The intangibles you get. How he threaded this needle. How he went and did the right thing for the company, the world and the shareholders -- all in one. It's really wild. He turned Trump around, and then he's obviously dealing with the Chinese. He's hustling. I've never seen a guy work so hard, just at this consistent pace." After Nvidia shares jumped 4% Tuesday on the H20 news, the stock was little changed in Wednesday's session, a subdued day for the broader market overall, too. Still, Nvidia has gained more than 75% since its April 21 close, which came a little more than a week after the Trump administration's H20 ban was announced, and the president was still escalating trade tensions with China. At that time, it seemed as if Nvidia had become a geopolitical pawn in the U.S.-China trade talks -- a development that frustrated Jim as a longtime Nvidia investor. The thing about pawns, in the game of chess at least, is they're capable of being converted into a queen, the most powerful piece on the board. "This has been an amazing diplomatic effort by Nvidia, and it's paying off," Reitzes said. "Let's hope it continues to pay off. I'm pretty optimistic that they're getting not only 10% of sales back, but even more. It could be up to 20%. They do need to continue to get approval for [selling chips in China] as we go throughout the Trump presidency, but I'll never put something past Jensen to be able to do so." In a CNBC interview Tuesday , Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, a key figure in the White House's tariff negotiations, indicated the Trump administration loosened its export controls on AI chips as part of the agreement with China to increase its exports of rare earth minerals. Lutnick said the Trump administration felt comfortable allowing China access to the H20 because it is not Nvidia's top-of-the-line offering. That title currently belongs to the Blackwell generation of chips. "We don't sell them our best stuff, not our second-best stuff, not even our third-best. I think fourth best is where we have come out that we're cool," Lutnick said. NVDA YTD mountain Nvidia's year-to-date stock performance. Not everyone is pleased with Nvidia regaining access to the Chinese market. Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts called the Trump administration's decision "shameful," and made note of Huang's engagements with the president. "Advanced chips are critical to our national security, and the Trump Administration rightfully banned Nvidia from shipping the H20 chip to the [People's Republic of China] just three months ago," Warren said in a statement. "Yet, true to form, the Trump Administration is now reversing itself and appeasing Nvidia's CEO, who attended the $1-million-dollar-a-head dinner at Mar-a-Lago in April and is looking to cash in on the China market." Warren is known for being hawkish on China, and this isn't her first time criticizing Nvidia, either. When media reports surfaced in May that Nvidia was planning to open a research-and-development facility in Shanghai, Warren pressed the company for more details in a joint letter with Republican Sen. Jim Banks of Indiana. In February, Warren also joined forces with GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri to call for tougher export controls on Nvidia's AI chips in the wake of Chinese AI startup DeepSeek's efficiency breakthroughs. DeepSeek's emergence in late January sent Nvidia shares tanking primarily on fears that fewer of its most powerful chips would be needed in the future. However, it also forced investors to contend with those renewed calls for Nvidia to lose access to the lucrative Chinese market -- a long-standing risk ever since the Biden White House's first round of export controls in 2022. For his part, Jim has also been a critic of China over the years on a range of economic matters. But when it comes to the role of AI technology in the broader geopolitical landscape, Jim said Huang has helped him evolve his view. "He got me thinking that perhaps we should be thinking more about them needing us, and when they need us -- which happens very rarely -- we should be there," Jim said Wednesday. "We can dominate, and they can write everything on us, or they can write everything on their own stuff." "Better that we be the reserve currency of tech in the world," Jim added, referencing the way that the U.S. dollar's status as the reserve currency of the world has provided some benefits to the U.S. economy . If they weren't already convinced, Nvidia investors now have more evidence of the benefits provided by Huang's stewardship, which made Nvidia the first company ever to have a $4 trillion stock market value. It closed above that threshold last week. Not even a week later, the stock was knocking on the door of $4.2 trillion. (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long NVDA. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. 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After Nvidia's record-breaking market cap milestone, Jim Cramer reflects on the AI giant's impact

"The fact is, neither Microsoft nor Apple can claim that they're currently creating a new industrial revolution, like Nvidia can," he said. "In fairness, they did create the last industrial revolution, the rise of the personal computer, although that was a long time ago." Nvidia topped $4 trillion for the first time during the day's session, but it closed up 1.8% to settle at a market cap of $3.97 trillion. The chipmaker is the world's most valuable company, larger than competitors Microsoft and Apple, who have both formerly held that title. Nvidia surpassed $2 trillion in February of last year and climbed above $3 trillion four months later. The tech giant has exploded over the past few years as Wall Street and the enterprise fixate on generative AI. Nvidia's products are broadly seen as best in class, and Big Tech hyperscalers have been clamoring for them as they compete in the AI arms race and seek to benefit from the most advanced AI models. Cramer remarked on AI's transformative potential, and he suggested that "every single computer with a GPU that's not as good as Nvidia's is obsolete." He also indicated that Nvidia's technology will change the way businesses operate, saying it enables humanoid robots and self-driving cars. These robots can perform mundane or dangerous jobs, and they could event replace a number of white collar workers, Cramer continued. Nvidia is a valuable player for the U.S. in its trade relationship with China, Cramer continued. The company sometimes seems to be the U.S.'s "only bargaining chip" with China, he said, as the country wants Nvidia's products. Even though China is one of the U.S.'s top manufacturers, Cramer said he thinks Nvidia is a bigger bargaining chip than anything that China has. "Bottom line? Nvidia, own it, don't trade it," he said. "Oh, and see you at $5 trillion."

Nvidia is the first $4-trillion company. Here are three things to know

Nvidia is already the world's most valuable company being one of the biggest beneficiaries of the global artificial intelligence boom. This week, the Santa Clara, California-based chip maker got another windfall. The Jensen Huang-led technology giant on Monday received approval from the U.S. government to sell some of its AI chips in China, boosting Nvidia's stock price by 4% to $170.70 a share on Tuesday. Rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. has received similar assurances from the government. Nvidia's valuation has risen dramatically over the last two years since generative artificial intelligence became a mainstream topic. Last week, the 32-year-old company became the first publicly traded firm to reach $4 trillion in market capitalization, beating tech titans including Microsoft and Apple. Though it's a largely symbolic moment, the milestone raised the stakes for competition in the AI space, which has attracted enormous amounts of capital from established tech players and startup investors. "Once you reach that level of market cap, everybody and their brother wants to be you," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst with advisory services firm Enderle Group. "So that means that there's going to be a huge focus on creating competitive technologies to Nvidia because it looks incredibly lucrative." Nvidia has become a primary force in the growth of AI technology, as many applications are built with Nvidia's chips. Before the AI boom, Nvidia was mostly known for creating premium graphics cards that were attractive to gamers in rendering high-speed visuals. Most recently, the company is known for selling powerful chips that help chatbots such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and self-driving cars process information quickly enough to make the technology useful. Nvidia said in its 2025 annual report that it powers more than 75% of the supercomputers on the TOP500 list, which ranks the 500 most powerful computer systems in the world. What is powering Nvidia's rise? Founded in 1993, Nvidia has ridden many technology waves, including the crypto frenzy. But lately, Nvidia has seen tremendous growth thanks to worldwide investor interest -- and competition for dominance -- in artificial intelligence. Companies are eager to explore how AI can make processes more efficient and figure out complex problems. But getting the computing power behind AI can be expensive if companies are building hardware on their own. That's where Nvidia comes in. Nvidia's sales increased 69% to $44.1 billion in its fiscal first quarter compared to a year ago. Net income was nearly $18.8 billion, up 26% from a year ago. In its fiscal year 2025, the company's revenue more than doubled to about $130.5 billion compared to a year earlier, and net income increased 145% to nearly $72.9 billion compared to fiscal year 2024. In the last 12 months, Nvidia's shares have increased more than 30%. Since five years ago, the stock has risen more than 16-fold. "It is clear AI is going to change the world and people want to get on that train, and Nvidia is the easiest entry point," wrote Berna Barshay, a partner at online investment platform Wall Street Beats, in an email. Over time, new winners and formidable rivals may emerge, Barshay said. "But during this foundational period of infrastructure creation, Nvidia has certainly been king." Other companies were slower to innovate in AI, including Apple and Intel, and underestimated how quickly AI technology would advance, analysts said. Who is Jensen Huang? Huang, a former microprocessor designer, discussed the idea behind Nvidia inside a Denny's in San Jose with fellow entrepreneurs Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem. The company's name is partly based on the Latin word "invidia" -- which means envy, according to The Wall Street Journal. Many businesses are certainly jealous of Nvidia's success now, but in the 1990s, the company almost went out of business when its first chip, NV1, failed, according to media reports. Huang has said in public comments, including commencement speeches, that adversity can help people become better leaders. Born in Tainan, Taiwan, in 1963, the onetime Denny's dishwasher has become one of the industry's most recognizable names, on par with Apple chief Tim Cook and Meta's Mark Zuckerberg. Thousands of people watch Huang's keynote at Nvidia's developer conference, as his vision could provide a road map for companies eager to expand investments in AI. Some analysts regularly refer to him as the "godfather of AI." What challenges lie ahead? The biggest challenges facing Nvidia are trade wars and competition, analysts say. Tariffs in the semiconductor industry could hurt companies like Nvidia, which manufacture and sell countless chips abroad. The company said in its annual report that 53% of its revenue in its 2025 fiscal year came from outside the U.S. The company said that worldwide geopolitical tensions and conflicts in countries like China, Hong Kong, Israel, Korea and Taiwan, where the manufacturing of its product components and final assembly are concentrated, could disrupt its operations, product demand and profitability. Nvidia has worked with its production partners to increase U.S. manufacturing of its chips. Several years ago, the U.S. restricted Nvidia's sales of its chips in China due to concerns that its AI technology could be used to help the Chinese military. Huang has said that since the U.S. government could choose to apply restrictions, he didn't think policymakers needed to be concerned about that and warned that allowing Nvidia to lose market share in China would cede a major advantage to Chinese tech company Huawei, according to Bloomberg. While many analysts say Nvidia has a significant lead on competitors, it is possible over time they could catch up. OpenAI, which uses Nvidia products for ChatGPT, is developing its own chip design, according to Reuters. There's also the question of whether the power grid is robust enough to support the infrastructure needs of the fast-growing technology, which could slow down not just Nvidia but the larger AI ecosystem. Despite the challenges, Thomas Monteiro, senior analyst at Investing.com, is bullish on Nvidia, saying it is possible that the company could reach $5 trillion in market cap during the next 18 months. "The world's still catching up and the thing is, it's going to take years for them to catch up," he said. "As long as we're looking at the AI revolution as a multidecade transformation, it's going to be really hard to take Nvidia out of that position."

Nvidia's Influence Over the Entire Stock Market Keeps Growing

Want more stock market and economic analysis from Phil Rosen directly in your inbox? Subscribe to Opening Bell Daily's newsletter. Nvidia just keeps winning across Washington and Wall Street. Nvidia stock climbed 4 percent Tuesday to hit a record high after the US government gave it the green light to resume selling its H20 AI chips to China. Shares of rival chip firms AMD, Micron Technology, and Broadcom also climbed. On the news, Bank of America raised its price target for Nvidia to $220 from $180. Currently, Nvidia accounts for nearly 8 percent of the S&P 500. That's the highest weighting for a single stock in 45 years, according to Todd Sohn, senior ETF strategist at Strategas Securities. For context, industrials account for 8.7 percent of the index, while healthcare stands at 9.1 percent. That's what happens when your company's market cap nears $4.2 trillion. More trillions could be on the way as the Trump administration rolls back more regulations for the AI industry and tech supply chains, according to UBS' chief investment office. While geopolitical risks remain -- tariff uncertainty and negotiations over rare earth minerals -- the earnings outlook for Nvidia and its peers should be enough to sustain the momentum. "The resumption of some U.S. AI chip sales in China would add to already robust global demand for AI chips, which has been growing this year on both sovereign AI deals in Europe and the Middle East and thanks to solid US large-cap tech capex," said Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi, global head of equities for UBS Global Wealth Management. Indeed, Nvidia's share of the pie could continue to expand in the coming months. And as the big get bigger, so will their influence over the rest of the market. The Magnificent 7 as a group -- of which Nvidia's the largest name -- comprises about one-third of the S&P 500. Since 2020, Big Tech has driven 46 percent of the S&P 500's daily price swings over a given year. That's higher than the 33 percent seen in the previous stretch between 2014 and 2019, as DataTrek Research highlighted in a note to clients Tuesday. Nvidia's continued outperformance could give it even more outsized sway, particularly to its Magnificent 7 peers that have lagged in 2025. As is, the entire market tilts from its weight. "When it comes to U.S. Big Tech, the 'Mag 7' is now the 'Fab 4,'" said DataTrek co-founders Nicholas Colas and Jessica Rabe, giving the nod to Nvidia, Meta, Microsoft and Broadcom. Notably, Big Tech's dominance has been a boon for passive investors. Yet one consequence of Nvidia's unrelenting climb has been its over-weighting across broad market index funds, Strategas Securities' Sohn told Opening Bell Daily. As a result, allocations to defensive stocks have fallen to the lowest levels in decades. The final deadline for the 2025 Inc. Power Partner Awards is Friday, July 25, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now.

Jim Cramer doubles down on Jensen Huang: Own Nvidia, don't trade it, says stock's up 42,000% since his pick

Nvidia's stock continues its impressive climb, reaching a $4 trillion market valuation. Jim Cramer urges investors to hold onto the stock, highlighting its significant gains since his initial recommendation. Fueled by the AI boom, Nvidia's stock has surged, though Cramer's past calls to sell have drawn scrutiny. Analysts predict further upside, with an average price target suggesting continued growth. Nvidia stocks' remarkable run continues to capture Wall Street's attention, and CNBC's Jim Cramer has urged investors to hold tight, as per a report. Shares of the AI chipmaker climbed 1.2% to $166 on July 11, extending gains following the company's historic milestone as the first ever to reach a $4 trillion market valuation, as reported by The Street. It reached that milestone just two days prior on July 9, a threshold that now accounts for approximately 14% of the total US GDP, according to the report. Following that, the host of CNBC's TV show 'Mad Money' offered his bullish take on Nvidia stock as he wrote on a social media X post on July 9, saying, "Please own it, don't trade it," as quoted by The Street. He emphasised that, "I don't want people to get hurt, and my view on Nvidia is well known. The watch party people didn't know what they were doing," as quoted in the report. ALSO READ: Elon Musk calls Warren Buffett boring, but secretly begged him to invest in Tesla Backing his bullish stance, Cramer highlighted that Nvidia's stock has surged 42,000% since his very first recommendation, according to the report. Cramer even said that Nvidia is "the biggest and the best" in a June X post, when the stock hit a new record high, reported The Street. His advice comes amid Nvidia's stunning rise, fuelled largely by the explosive growth in generative AI technologies following the launch of ChatGPT, according to the report. The company's stock gained 171% in 2024 and is already up nearly 24% so far in 2025, as reported by The Street. However, the outspoken host's advice has not gone without scrutiny online. Some users on X reminded Cramer of his past calls to sell Nvidia, especially during the stock's downturn in late 2022, according to the report. One user wrote, "You were on CNBC and said sell it!! Now you are making fun of people [that] did sell it?," as quoted by The Street. While another X user wrote that, "Remember when you told everyone to sell NVDA fall of 2022," as quoted in the report. ALSO READ: After Asim Munir and Netanyahu, Karoline Leavitt now calls for Nobel Prize for Trump, gets blasted online As per the TipRanks report, Wall Street analysts' average price target for Nvidia is $176.29, with a high forecast of $250.00 and a low forecast of $100.00, so the target means a 5.68% upside from the last-checked price of $166.81, as reported by The Street. How much has Nvidia stock risen? It rose 171% in 2024 and is already up 24% in 2025. Why is Cramer so bullish on Nvidia? He's been backing it for years and claims the stock has gained 42,000% since his first call.

Nvidia Sometimes Feels Like America's Only Bargaining Chip In Trade Standoff With China, Says Jim Cramer: 'Own It, Don't Trade It' - Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

On Wednesday, Nvidia Corporation NVDA briefly became the world's most valuable company. Following this, Jim Cramer hailed the AI chipmaker as a national strategic asset and a powerful tool in America's trade tensions with China. What Happened: Nvidia crossed a $4 trillion market cap during trading before closing at $3.97 trillion. The surge reaffirmed its place atop the global market, surpassing Microsoft Corporation MSFT and Apple Inc. AAPL. "The fact is, neither Microsoft nor Apple can claim that they're currently creating a new industrial revolution, like Nvidia can," said Cramer, reported CNBC. "In fairness, they did create the last industrial revolution, the rise of the personal computer, although that was a long time ago," he added. See Also: Mark Zuckerberg Once Set Up A Facebook Account For Brooklyn Nine-Nine Star Andy Samberg, Then Personally Played Tech Support When Things Went A Bit Haywire Reflecting on Nvidia's geopolitical significance, Cramer noted that Nvidia sometimes seems to be the U.S.'s "only bargaining chip" with China, citing Beijing's demand for Nvidia's advanced AI hardware amid ongoing U.S. export controls. Even though China remains one of the U.S.'s largest manufacturing partners, Cramer believes Nvidia represents a more powerful bargaining chip than anything China can leverage. Cramer also praised Nvidia's role in shaping the future of technology, saying its chips are essential for generative AI, self-driving cars and humanoid robotics. "Every single computer with a GPU that's not as good as Nvidia's is obsolete," he said. He concluded with a familiar refrain to investors: "Bottom line? Nvidia, own it, don't trade it," adding, "See you at $5 trillion." Cramer also posted a signed photo from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on X, formerly Twitter, captioned, "Thank you Jensen!!! Thank you Nvidia!!" Why It's Important: Nvidia joined the exclusive club of trillion-dollar companies in May 2023, becoming the ninth firm ever to reach a $1 trillion market value. Since then, it has rapidly cleared additional valuation milestones, repeatedly struggling with Microsoft and Apple for the top spot as the world's most valuable company. By reaching a $4 trillion market cap before both Microsoft and Apple, Nvidia not only cements its place in corporate history but also breaks Apple's run as the first U.S. company to hit the $1 trillion, $2 trillion and $3 trillion marks. NVDA currently holds a consensus price target of $179.17, based on evaluations from 37 analysts. The three latest analyst updates by Citigroup, Mizuho, and Loop Capital set an average price target of $208.33, suggesting a potential upside of 27.53%. Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings indicate that NVDA continues to demonstrate a solid upward trend in the short, medium and long term. While the stock's growth score remains strong, its value rating is relatively lower. Additional performance details are available here. Photo courtesy: katz / Shutterstock.com Read Next: Charlie Munger Said Getting Rich Is Harder Than Ever, But Here's 'The Beauty Of It' -- You Only Have To Do It Once Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. AAPLApple Inc$210.720.34%Stock Score Locked: Edge Members Only Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Unlock RankingsEdge RankingsMomentum25.04Growth32.12Quality74.20Value9.33Price TrendShortMediumLongOverviewMSFTMicrosoft Corp$503.041.29%NVDANVIDIA Corp$163.362.10%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Nvidia's Market Just Got Exponentially Larger (NASDAQ:NVDA)

Despite all-time highs, technicals remain bullish and institutional support is strong; I reaffirm my 'Strong Buy' rating on NVDA. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) has done it. The backbone of the AI industry has shattered every record in corporate history by reaching a market capitalization of $4.17 trillion, making it the most valuable company in the world at present. Considering that Rick is a Wall Street Journal best-selling author with over 20 years of experience trading stocks and options. The most authoritative publications, including Good Morning America, Washington Post, Yahoo Finance, MSN, Business Insider, NBC, FOX, CBS, and ABC News, cover his work. His passion is business, and he works tirelessly to deliver content in an easy-to-understand manner. In 2018, Rick wrote The Financially Independent Millennial to inspire his readers with his story about becoming financially independent at age 35 despite not learning about money when he was younger. His books are easy to read and often refer to key points that "He would tell his younger self." When not thinking about business, Rick writes (mainly about cruise ship travel) for his travel blog and is an enthusiast of fast cars, technology, & cooking. Analyst's Disclosure:I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of GOOGL, MSFT, META either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.