When Nvidia's market capitalisation briefly crossed the $1 trillion mark in May, it was predictably catapulted into the spotlight, joining an ultra-elite group of companies flush with cash.
While that round was brief, the California-based chip maker is again enjoying trillion-dollar status as its stock continues to surge, aided by the meteoric rise of artificial intelligence.
Here's everything you need to know about the company and the reasons behind its latest market surge.
When was Nvidia founded?
Nvidia traces its beginnings to April 5, 1993 – years before the dot-com boom and bubble – when Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem founded the company and sought to bring 3D graphics to gaming and multimedia.
At the time, PCs were still running Microsoft Windows 3.1, the original Sony PlayStation was still more than a year away, Siemens had not yet released the S10, the first smartphone with a coloured display, and the graphics world looked completely different from what it is today.
Jensen Huang's journey
The journey of Nvidia president and chief executive Mr Huang – born Jen-Hsun Huang in Taiwan in 1963 – did not start smoothly.
His family moved to Thailand when he was four, then had to emigrate with his brother to the US five years later to escape conflict.
He went on to obtain an electrical engineering degree from the University of Oregon and later pursued a master's programme at Stanford, from where he graduated from in 1992 – one year before he co-founded Nvidia.
He has a net worth of more than $39 billion, putting him among the top 35 billionaires globally and among the top five wealthiest Asians, according to both Bloomberg and Forbes. He owns a 3.6 per cent stake in Nvidia, which went public in 1999.
A little-known fact about Mr Huang is that between 1984 to 1985 he worked for Advanced Micro Devices – which would one day become Nvidia's main competition in the chip market.
With the rise of the metaverse, Mr Huang led Nvidia last year to create the Omniverse platform, which it says will play a "foundational role" in the building of the next stage of the internet.
Omniverse is a computing platform that lets users develop Universal Scene Description-based 3D workflows and applications in a faster way, boosted by AI and using little to no code.
For his contributions and efforts, Mr Huang has received a number of accolades, including being named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world in 2021.
What is Nvidia's claim to fame?
The company is credited with popularising the graphics processing unit, the key component we all know as GPU.
While the term GPU has been used since the 1980s and existed as graphics circuits for arcade games in the 1970s, it wasn't until 1999, when Nvidia released the heavily-updated GeForce 256, marketing it as “the world's first GPU”, that the term took off.
That would not only make Nvidia and its GeForce line one of the best in GPUs, but it would also forever link the GPU to the company. That's a big – and game-changing – claim.
A GPU is a specialised chip that accelerates graphics performance and image processing. It plays a huge role in ensuring that content is at its best, especially as smartphones and computers become more powerful and user-centric.
Nvidia's idea kicked off a race in the graphics-heavy gaming market and placed it head-to-head with the likes of MSI, Asus, Intel and AMD, which makes GeForce rival Radeon.
Nvidia followed that up with its RTX technology in 2018, the first GPU capable of ray-tracing, a rendering technique that simulates the physical behaviour of light.
Why is Nvidia hot right now?
The company's performance has received a boost since it has combined its expertise in chips with arguably the hottest trend in tech right now, generative AI.
Nvidia says its new top-of-the-line H100 processor has the power of more than 130 CPUs, “enabling researchers to tackle challenges that were once unsolvable”.
This has also topped tests on MLPerf, the first industrywide AI benchmark, “validating itself as the world’s most powerful, scalable, and versatile computing platform”.
And enterprises have been reportedly responding pretty well: for example, Chinese tech majors, including Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu and TikTok owner ByteDance have placed orders worth $5 billion for Nvidia's AI chips, the Financial Times recently reported.
In June, Oracle chairman Larry Ellison said the company was buying billions of dollars worth of Nvidia chips to strengthen its position in generative AI and cloud computing.
More orders are expected, but if this is any indication, Nvidia is set to maintain its lead in the now hotly-contested market.
How much has Nvidia's stock soared?
At the close of trading on Tuesday, the Nasdaq-listed company's share price was at $439.40 – up more than three times year-to-date, about 133 per cent higher in the past 12 months and up more than sevenfold in the last five years.
That also put its market capitalisation at about $1.09 trillion as of Tuesday, joining Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Google parent Alphabet as the only US companies that currently boast a 13-figure cap. Tesla and Facebook owner Meta Platforms have both previously surpassed that mark.
For comparison, the share price of the six aforementioned tech giants in 2023 have grown 41.8 per cent, 34.3 per cent, 60.4 per cent, 45.6 per cent, 115.5 per cent and 142 per cent, respectively.
Among its peers, Nvidia is also dominating: while Intel's stock is up 30 per cent year-to-date, it is down about 4 per cent in the past 12 months and more than a quarter in the last five years.
AMD, meanwhile, is up 74.9 per cent in 2023, 11.1 per cent in the past 12 months and has surged 463 per cent in the last five years.
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Favourite place in UAE: Al Rams pearling village
What one book should everyone read: Any book written before electricity was invented. When a writer willingly worked under candlelight, you know he/she had a real passion for their craft
Your favourite type of pearl: All of them. No pearl looks the same and each carries its own unique characteristics, like humans
Best time to swim in the sea: When there is enough light to see beneath the surface
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
It's Monty Python's Crashing Rocket Circus
To the theme tune of the famous zany British comedy TV show, SpaceX has shown exactly what can go wrong when you try to land a rocket.
The two minute video posted on YouTube is a compilation of crashes and explosion as the company, created by billionaire Elon Musk, refined the technique of reusable space flight.
SpaceX is able to land its rockets on land once they have completed the first stage of their mission, and is able to resuse them multiple times - a first for space flight.
But as the video, How Not to Land an Orbital Rocket Booster, demonstrates, it was a case if you fail, try and try again.
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Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
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Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
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Why are asylum seekers being housed in hotels?
The number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high, driven by those illegally entering the country in small boats crossing the English Channel.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation while their claim is assessed.
The Home Office provides the accommodation, meaning asylum seekers cannot choose where they live.
When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to hotels or large sites like former military bases.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Fixtures
Opening day Premier League fixtures for August 9-11
August 9
Liverpool v Norwich 11pm
August 10
West Ham v Man City 3.30pm
Bournemouth v Sheffield Utd 6pm
Burnley v Southampton 6pm
C Palace v Everton 6pm
Leicester v Wolves 6pm
Watford v Brighton 6pm
Tottenham v Aston Villa 8.30pm
August 11
Newcastle v Arsenal 5pm
Man United v Chelsea 7.30pm
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From: Ras Al Khaimah
Age: 50
Profession: Electronic engineer, worked with Etisalat for the past 20 years
Hobbies: 'Anything that involves exploration, hunting, fishing, mountaineering, the sea, hiking, scuba diving, and adventure sports'
Favourite quote: 'Life is so simple, enjoy it'
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
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Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
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Profile
Co-founders of the company: Vilhelm Hedberg and Ravi Bhusari
Launch year: In 2016 ekar launched and signed an agreement with Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi. In January 2017 ekar launched in Dubai in a partnership with the RTA.
Number of employees: Over 50
Financing stage: Series B currently being finalised
Investors: Series A - Audacia Capital
Sector of operation: Transport
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Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
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The Pope's itinerary
Sunday, February 3, 2019 - Rome to Abu Dhabi
1pm: departure by plane from Rome / Fiumicino to Abu Dhabi
10pm: arrival at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
Monday, February 4
12pm: welcome ceremony at the main entrance of the Presidential Palace
12.20pm: visit Abu Dhabi Crown Prince at Presidential Palace
5pm: private meeting with Muslim Council of Elders at Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
6.10pm: Inter-religious in the Founder's Memorial
Tuesday, February 5 - Abu Dhabi to Rome
9.15am: private visit to undisclosed cathedral
10.30am: public mass at Zayed Sports City – with a homily by Pope Francis
12.40pm: farewell at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
1pm: departure by plane to Rome
5pm: arrival at the Rome / Ciampino International Airport
