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The gravity-defying rally in artificial intelligence (AI) stocks can also be described as the “Nvidia rally,” as no company has spearheaded the market-defining trend more than the Santa Clara-based chip specialist. Founded in 1993, Nvidia (NVDA) is a leader in specialized AI semiconductors, and also supplies software. The company designs and sells graphics processing units (GPUs) for the gaming and professional markets, and system-on-a-chip (SoC) units for the mobile computing market.
Trading under a dollar as recently as 2016, the stock closed Monday at $128 - and that's after NVDA's recent 10-for-1 stock split. While the stock is up an impressive 159% on a YTD basis, NVDA is up a staggering 2,834% over the past five years, and last month it briefly took over the No. 1 spot as the most valuable company in the world. With Apple (AAPL) back in the top spot, Nvidia's market cap now stands at a formidable $3.16 trillion.