Nvidia’s market capitalization dropped below $5 trillion in early June 2026, settling at approximately $4.967 trillion after a brutal session on June 5 that saw the stock plunge more than 6%. That single day erased over $320 billion in value.
The slip marks the first time Nvidia has traded below the $5 trillion threshold since May 6. It’s a notable retreat for a company that made history in late 2025 by becoming the first publicly traded firm to ever cross that line.
What actually happened
The pullback appears tied to a broader semiconductor selloff and a shift in market sentiment around AI spending. Sector rotation seems to be the primary culprit, with investors reassessing how much money is pouring into AI infrastructure.
Nvidia’s stock had previously closed above $5 trillion as recently as April 2026. Even after the drop, Nvidia retains its crown as the world’s most valuable company by market capitalization.
The journey from gaming chips to global dominance
Three years ago, Nvidia was valued at under $1 trillion. It was known primarily as the company that made graphics cards for gamers and the hardware that powered cryptocurrency mining rigs.
Then generative AI happened. Suddenly every major tech company, cloud provider, and ambitious startup needed Nvidia’s GPUs to train and run AI models. The climb from sub-$1 trillion in 2023 to $5 trillion by late 2025 represents one of the fastest value creation stories in the history of public markets.
Nvidia first breached the $5 trillion mark around October to November 2025, powered by quarterly earnings that consistently demolished analyst expectations. The company’s transformation from a gamer-centric chipmaker to the backbone of AI infrastructure has been the defining corporate evolution of this era.
What this means for investors
The broader semiconductor selloff suggests this isn’t an Nvidia-specific problem. It’s a sector-wide reassessment of how much premium investors are willing to pay for AI-adjacent companies.
The company’s underlying business fundamentals haven’t changed. Customer demand for AI chips remains robust, and Nvidia’s competitive moat in high-performance GPU computing is arguably wider than ever.
The gap between Nvidia’s current valuation of roughly $4.967 trillion and the $5 trillion psychological benchmark is narrow enough that a single strong session could close it.