Nvidia’s share price advanced as much as 2.4% to $160.98 on Thursday, lifting the chip designer’s market value to roughly $3.92 trillion. The move briefly eclipsed Apple’s record closing valuation of $3.915 trillion set last December and put the Santa Clara-based company on the brink of becoming the most valuable corporation in history. Demand for Nvidia’s high-end processors, which dominate the rapidly expanding market for artificial-intelligence data-centres, has driven its equity almost eight-fold since 2021. The rally in Nvidia helped propel broader U.S. equities to fresh highs. The S&P 500 added 0.83% to finish at 6,279.36, the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.02% to 20,601.10 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 344 points, or 0.77%, to 44,828.53. Nvidia alone now accounts for about 7% of the S&P 500’s weighting, underscoring how concentration in a handful of technology stocks is steering headline indices. Investor optimism was reinforced by a stronger-than-expected June employment report, which showed non-farm payrolls expanding by 147,000 and the unemployment rate dipping to 4.1%. The solid labour data tempered expectations for an immediate Federal Reserve rate cut; futures markets reduced the probability of a July move to virtually zero and priced a 68% chance of easing in September. Nvidia’s ascent highlights Wall Street’s conviction that generative AI will remain a multiyear growth engine. At its current valuation, the company is worth more than the combined stock markets of Canada and Mexico and exceeds the market capitalisation of all U.K.-listed firms. Analysts note that the shares trade at about 32 times forward earnings—below their five-year average—reflecting a steady rise in profit forecasts that continues to outpace the stock’s steep gains.