Nvidia Stock Could Become the Next Apple. Here’s What It Means for Investors. | The Motley Fool

I know what you’re probably thinking. Nvidia (NVDA +1.80%) is the most valuable company in the world — even bigger than Apple (AAPL +1.41%). Why would it need to “become the next Apple”?

Nvidia just had its annual GTC conference. And at that conference, management talked extensively about the boom in artificial intelligence (AI) inferencing and Nvidia’s growing ecosystem that expands beyond graphics processing units (GPUs) to capture more than one-time hardware sales.

Just as Apple built an ecosystem of consumer products that have become as essential to many households as laundry detergent and toothpaste, so too is Nvidia building an ecosystem primarily for enterprises to create a recurring revenue stream in the age of AI inferencing.

Here’s why this evolving business model could be a game changer for investors by adding balance to Nvidia’s investment thesis.

An ecosystem in the making

Nvidia’s earnings growth has exploded in recent years as key hyperscaler customers build data centers that rely on Nvidia GPUs. The data center business is so massive that other segments like professional visualization, gaming, automotive, and robotics barely move the needle. In fiscal 2026, the data center segment made up just under 90% of total revenue. And that puts pressure on Nvidia to continue selling GPUs to hyperscalers to maintain its breakneck growth rate.

Nvidia’s latest architecture, Rubin, already addresses part of the problem. It includes six chips…