Nvidia becomes first company to hit $4 trillion in market value

(Reuters) -Nvidia notched a market capitalization of $4 trillion on Wednesday, making it the first public company in the world to reach the milestone and solidifying its position as one of Wall Street's most-favored stocks.

Shares of the leading chip designer were last up 2%, at $163, after reaching an all-time high of $164 earlier, as the company is benefiting from the ongoing surge in demand for artificial intelligence technologies.

COMMENTS:

GIL LURIA, ANALYST, D.A. DAVIDSON, PORTLAND, OREGON

"While it is unlikely that Nvidia will continue to dominate the AI chip market to the same extent going forward, it will continue to be the main provider of AI computer hardware into an insatiable market for AI data centers. While its valuation is towards the high end of historical ranges, Nvidia also has better visibility into a continued investment cycle than it typically does during a cycle."

PETER CARDILLO, CHIEF MARKET ECONOMIST, SPARTAN CAPITAL SECURITIES, NEW YORK

“Anytime you have something like this happening in the market, which is a historic event, it's usually good for the general market. It shows that investors are focusing on the future. And that's what the stock market is all about.”

“When you have concentration in one particular individual stock, it generally means that there's enthusiasm in the general marketplace, and we've seen that throughout the years. We saw it when Microsoft hit historic (market) capitalization and we saw it with Google and Tesla and now it's Nvidia’s turn. Investors have a tendency to follow the flock.”

CHUCK CARLSON, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, HORIZON INVESTMENT SERVICES, HAMMOND, INDIANA

"It's a continuing reflection of investors wanting to be on the right side of the AI movement, and Nvidia is kind of the golden child for AI investment. The company is still putting up growth numbers. It clearly is the leader in that field, and it's a must-have if you want exposure to AI and generative AI and accelerated computing."

ART HOGAN, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, B RILEY WEALTH, NEW YORK

"It is another milepost along the road in this amazing story of a company that continues to reinvent itself. It started out as being a gaming chip maker and then a crypto mining chip maker and now as a chipmaker for artificial intelligence computing power. It's a company that's had an amazing history over the course of the last five years and that certainly has accelerated into its market cap."

"So it is continuing to move forward and is a clear early winner of artificial intelligence. It doesn't look like it's running out of runway."

ROBERT PAVLIK, SENIOR PORTFOLIO MANAGER, DAKOTA WEALTH, NEW YORK METROPOLITAN AREA

"It highlights the fact that Nvidia is sort of the backbone of artificial intelligence infrastructure and it is indicative of the revolution that's going on in technology. I believe that there's still more upside in the stock."

"Nvidia is going to continue to lead the AI infrastructure space. It highlights the fact that companies are shifting their asset spend in the direction of AI and it's pretty much the future of technology."

(Reporting by Finance & Markets team)