By Jeremy Bowman
Publication Date: 2026-01-23 22:45:00
The AI leader is insulated from the machinations of the consumer-level economy.
Since the launch of ChatGPT more than three years ago, Nvidia (NVDA +1.60%) has gotten more attention than probably any other stock on the market, and for good reason.
Nvidia is the company that is driving the AI revolution and collecting the most value from the AI boom. The company still dominates the market for data center GPUs, the chips used to make AI models that power applications like ChatGPT work, with more than 90% market share. Thanks to AI, it’s also now the most valuable company in the world at a market cap of $4.5 trillion, and the stock is up roughly 1,000% over the last three years.
As a semiconductor stock with the vast majority of its business exposed to AI, Nvidia seems like it would be a high-risk stock. After all, it’s been volatile over its history. As the chart below shows, the stock has fallen by more than 50% twice in the last ten years, and even fell by 30% last spring when stocks fell over tariff concerns.
However, compared to most of the stock market, Nvidia looks well-prepared to overcome a potential recession or any macroeconomic malaise this year. Here’s why.
Image source: Nvidia.
Nvidia’s position in the economy
The stock market has soared over the last three years, driven by artificial intelligence, but for everyday Americans, there’s a lot to be desired. The labor market has been sluggish for most of the past year. Inflation has sapped…
