US tech giant Nvidia hits $4 trillion market capitalization on Wednesday, becoming the first public company in history to reach the milestone.

The chipmaker's shares were up 2.6% as of 1400GMT, as the demand for artificial intelligence (AI) technologies grows.

Nvidia has surpassed both Apple and Microsoft, which reached a $3 trillion market value before Nvidia, to become the most valuable corporation in the world.

The 1993-founded California-based business first crossed the $2 trillion threshold in February 2024 and then topped $3 trillion in June.

Nvidia has benefited greatly from the rising demand for AI processors and gear, especially after the development of AI chatbots such as ChatGPT.

Although the company continues to dominate the market for graphics processing units, or GPUs, which are required to perform AI tasks and create large language models (LLMs), the intensity of this year's gain is unexpected considering that it has claimed to be shut out of China.

Nvidia has been facing a series of export controls and bans from the US government in recent months.

In April, the Trump administration imposed additional regulations that halted sales of the company's H20 AI processor, which was created to comply with earlier limitations.

Besides having to write down $4.5 billion in inventory, Nvidia said last month that the US government-imposed adjustment will cost the business $8 billion in sales. It is currently not banking on any Chinese sales.

Nvidia's May earnings release showed 69% year-over-year sales growth, driven by a 73% spike in its data center division. (Anadolu Agency)