By Neil Patel, The Motley Fool
Publication Date: 2026-10-07 20:56:00
Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) was once only known as the leading provider of graphics processing units (GPUs) for the video game industry. But it leaned on its strengths, helping other industries find uses for its GPUs over the years. And in recent years, the leads it gained in developing parallel processors and attracting developers to create code for them on its CUDA platform positioned it to become the top provider by far of accelerator chips for the artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure build-out. The gains that its long-term investors have captured thanks to that multitrillion-dollar spending spree are truly incredible.
If you’d invested $1,000 in this AI stock 10 years ago, here’s how much your stake would be worth today.
Missed AI’s “Act 1”? Act 2 Could Be 14x Bigger. Most investors think they missed the AI boat because they didn’t buy Nvidia in 2005. But according to our analysts, we’re only at the end of “Act 1″—the R&D phase. “Act 2” is the global rollout. Continue »
Nvidia shares have generated a total return of 13,930% in the last 10 years (as of Oct. 6). This phenomenal gain would’ve turned a starting $1,000 investment into more than $140,000 today. The momentum has continued this year, with the stock up 28% in 2026.
Investors would struggle to find any stocks that have performed better since October 2016. Getting into this chipmaker ahead of a generational technological…
