Nvidia has become the first public company worth $4 trillion.
Nvidia manufactures computer chips for artificial intelligence and has reached this milestone rating before the well-known technology industry heavyweights like Apple and Microsoft.
Chris Miller, author of “Chip War: The Battle for the World's Most Important Technology,” explains why Nvidia is gaining so much traction so quickly, and why it says about the value of chips.
8 Questions with Chris Miller
Do you think Nvidia is really worth $4 trillion?
“Nvidia produces products that all other large companies in the world don't get enough: Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet. They are looking to buy Nvidia products when they're listed on the world's largest companies.
When did the company start? Who is behind it?
“The company was founded decades ago by CEO Jensen Fan. Initially, the company created chips for the game. They had unique graphics features. They showed pictures of computer games in a very realistic way. Possible.”
What did the company do to get it to the top?
“Long before Chat GPT, Nvidia really got all into AI. Until 2022, when Chat GPT was released, many companies didn't know if there was a really big market for chips that specialize in AI. His peers are, AI will become a huge market.
Nvidia is an American company. There have been a lot of back and forth under both the Biden and Trump administrations to ensure that China does not win the AI competition. Under the Biden administration, they had chip export control. This month we watched the Trump administration's reverse course and allowed Nvidia to sell certain chips to China. Can you understand this before or after?
“If you want to train and deploy a Big AI system, you need three things. You need data. You need algorithms or models. You need a lot of computational power. Like Huawei, which produces AI chips, you're ahead of your US competitors as well as your Chinese competitors, but it's not that important.
“So, in reality, all the way back to the first Trump administration, there was a desire to maintain the most advanced chip manufacturing capabilities and AI chips from the hands of Chinese companies. And there was a set of restrictions that the Biden administration certainly strengthened. It turned around about a week ago.”
Why did the Trump administration reverse that decision?
“Well, that's not entirely clear. We've heard contradictory reports from various administration figures as to why, and we've heard people say that it was the result of US-China trade negotiations.
“Others say that Nvidia is a strategic shift designed to make more money to sell to the Chinese market. They also don't make it clear exactly what the decision is. From what we understand, Nvidia must apply for a license to sell to a particular Chinese company.
There are national security concerns and economic concerns. How do we see multiple competing pressures with American lawmakers at this time?
“There's concern. Companies that make chip manufacturing tools want to sell more tools, but the more tools sold, the more difficult it will be for western chip manufacturers to compete to enable their Chinese competitors. The same applies to AI chips, Chinese competitors.
“One of the questions the administration has to answer is to undermine US chip users by strengthening US AI chip manufacturers by selling to China, actually creating Chinese competitors like Deepseek and Chinese competitors that are even more capable than other methods.”
What do you think?
“This is a tricky trade-off. If China has access to more Nvidia chips, it's undoubtedly a more capable AI ecosystem.”
Why is there so much competition all over the world through chips?
“When it comes to artificial intelligence, access to more advanced computing capabilities is a basic driver, perhaps a basic driver, which means you need a bigger, better, more capable chip every year.
This interview was clearly compiled.
Ashley Locke produced and edited the interview for the broadcast with Todd Mundt. Allison Hagan adapted it to the web.
