5,000,000,000,000

Nvidia's trillions and the concentration of Al power

- 

You've just read five words. It didn't take long.

For the average person to read 5 trillion words, it would take around 38,000 years. This week, Nvidia, the leading manufacturer of AI chips, became the first company to be worth $5tn. That's a lot about 2.5m suitcases full of $100 bills. If money could speak, it would be saying: forget Donald Trump and tariff wars, the climate crisis and the Middle East, artificial intelligence is the defining story of our times.

This is not the first time that an industry (tulips) or an innovation (railways) has driven investors wild with excitement. But no company has increased in value at such speed. Nvidia was worth $4tn just four months ago. No company has been worth so much more than so many others. Nvidia is worth more than double all the companies in the FTSE 100 combined.