By Patrick Sanders
Publication Date: 2025-12-30 13:45:00
Nvidia stock is up 40% this year, but competition is getting stronger.
The artificial intelligence (AI) buildout would look much different without Nvidia (NVDA 0.10%). Its graphics processing units (GPUs) have become the gold standard for training and running AI products, and major companies have been spending billions to buy and package the chips to try to get an advantage in the AI race.
Data centers bundle Nvidia chips by the thousands so they can work together to perform high-level AI tasks, which has been a huge windfall for Nvidia and its investors. CEO Jensen Huang has said the company’s Blackwell chips cost $30,000 or more each — so any company investing in AI chips is making substantial purchases.
That’s helped Nvidia leapfrog other major companies to become the largest publicly traded company in the world by market capitalization. Nvidia even topped the $5 trillion mark earlier this year before pulling back — it now has a market capitalization of more than $4.5 trillion.
Nvidia took its place as a member of the “Magnificent Seven” — a grouping identified by Bank of America analyst Michael Hartnett as the most influential stocks in the S&P 500.
Image source: Nvidia.
This is the sixth article in a series ranking the best Magnificent Seven stocks to buy for 2026. In previous articles, I identified Apple in the No. 7 spot, Amazon as No. 6, Tesla as No. 5, Microsoft in the No. 4 spot, and Meta Platforms as No. 3. Here’s why Nvidia deserves the No. 2 spot for…
