Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) has grown into a financial giant that few companies in history can rival. Today, it stands as the largest publicly traded company in the United States by market capitalization, boasting a valuation of more than $4.6 trillion. What makes this even more remarkable is that Nvidia’s growth story is far from over.
Over the past year alone, Nvidia shares have climbed more than 30%, fueled by explosive demand for high-performance chips that power artificial intelligence. That gain followed a breathtaking 171% surge in 2024 and an eye-popping 239% rally in 2023, making Nvidia the top-performing stock in the S&P 500 during that period. Yet Nvidia’s rise was not overnight. Its current dominance is the result of decades of steady innovation, strategic pivots, and perfectly timed technological waves.
This long-term journey raises a fascinating question for investors: What Would a $10,000 Investment in Nvidia 20 Years Ago Be Worth Today?
From Startup to Silicon Superstar
Nvidia was founded in April 1993 by Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky, and Curtis Priem. From the very beginning, the founders believed that graphics-based computing would become a major force in technology. Video games offered an early proving ground, giving Nvidia both revenue and the opportunity to build deep expertise in research, development, and patents.
The company went public in 1999 and launched its first GeForce graphics card the same year. Over time, GeForce became the gold standard for high-resolution gaming and advanced video performance. But Nvidia never limited itself to gaming alone. Instead, it continuously expanded into new markets, setting the stage for multiple growth “acts” over the decades.
Stock Splits, Patience, and Compounding Wealth
Long-term shareholders were rewarded generously. Nvidia executed stock splits in 2000, 2001, 2006, 2007, 2021, and again in 2024. Thanks to these splits, an investor who purchased 100 shares at the 1999 IPO would now own 48,000 shares.
On a split-adjusted basis, Nvidia shares traded for about $0.04 in 1999 and remained under $0.50 as recently as 2015. That period marked the beginning of Nvidia’s second major growth phase, driven by cryptocurrency mining.
Nvidia’s GPUs turned out to be exceptionally well suited for solving the complex cryptographic calculations required to mine Bitcoin and other proof-of-work cryptocurrencies. As crypto prices surged, mining firms poured money into Nvidia hardware. Between 2016 and 2019, Nvidia’s annual revenue jumped from $5 billion to more than $11.7 billion.
Gaming, Data Centers, and the AI Explosion
While cryptocurrency demand eventually cooled, Nvidia found fresh momentum elsewhere. During the pandemic, high-end gaming demand soared as people spent more time at home. At the same time, Nvidia’s data center business began to scale rapidly, pushing total revenue to $27 billion in fiscal 2023.
Then came artificial intelligence. The rise of generative AI and large language models sparked an unprecedented wave of demand for Nvidia’s advanced chips. Fiscal 2025 revenue surged 114% to $130.5 billion, and analysts expect sales to grow another 60% this year, potentially reaching $213 billion.
Few large-cap companies can match Nvidia’s combination of scale, growth, and technological leadership, which explains why its stock price has surged to historic levels.
Nvidia by the Numbers
The financial transformation is staggering. From fiscal 2000 to fiscal 2025, Nvidia increased its revenue by 348 times. Net income growth was even more dramatic, rising more than 1,900-fold over the same period. Much of this expansion occurred in just the last few years as Nvidia moved far beyond its gaming roots.
For investors, the payoff has been extraordinary. A $10,000 investment made in Nvidia stock on January 2, 2006, would have grown to approximately $6.51 million by January 2026. That translates into a remarkable 38.3% compound annual growth rate over 20 years. By comparison, the S&P 500 delivered about 8.8% annually during the same period, turning $10,000 into roughly $54,000.
What Investors and Analysts Are Saying
Renowned investor Stanley Druckenmiller publicly discussed his Nvidia investment in mid-2023, acknowledging that while the valuation appeared high, the opportunity was simply too big to ignore. He argued that artificial intelligence, unlike many speculative trends, has the potential to be as transformative as the internet itself. In hindsight, those comments have aged extremely well.
AI-driven products such as ChatGPT and advanced image-generation tools have already gained mass adoption, something technologies like NFTs and blockchain struggled to achieve at scale. These real-world applications strengthen the case for a prolonged AI-driven growth cycle.
Is Nvidia Still a Buy?
Nvidia appears to be in the early stages of a massive AI investment cycle, as enterprises race to build and deploy their own models. In such environments, momentum often outweighs traditional valuation concerns, at least in the medium term. Accelerating revenue growth and expanding profit margins tend to reward patient investors.
That said, with Nvidia shares up more than 30% over the past year—following gains of 171% and 239% in the prior two years—it is difficult to argue that the stock is cheap by conventional metrics. Even so, analysts are forecasting revenue growth of more than 60% this year, driven by relentless demand for AI infrastructure.
Given Nvidia’s unmatched track record, dominant market position, and central role in the AI revolution, it would not be surprising to see the stock continue climbing, despite its lofty valuation. For long-term investors, Nvidia remains a powerful example of how patience, innovation, and compounding can turn a modest investment into generational wealth.
