Nvidia: The AI Gold Rush

When ChatGPT launched in late 2022, one company had already built the hardware to power it: Nvidia. Its H100 GPU — priced at $30,000–40,000 each — became the most sought-after product in tech. Cloud providers, AI startups, and governments raced to secure supply. Jensen Huang, Nvidia's co-founder, became a figurehead of the AI era. Nvidia's stock rose over 3,000% between early 2023 and mid-2024. In June 2024, it briefly surpassed Microsoft and Apple to become the world's most valuable company at over $3 trillion. The company that made graphics cards for gamers had become the toll booth on the highway to artificial intelligence.