Nvidia Stock Rises After Historic High. This Can Drive the Next Rally.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is reported to be planning to visit China. (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

Nvidia stock was falling in premarket trading Friday to end a historic week for the chip maker after the shares closed above $4 trillion for the first time on Thursday. A visit to China by CEO Jensen Huang could unlock further gains.

Nvidia shares were up 1.3% at $166.18 in early trading. The stock rose 0.8% on Thursday and the company became the first to close above $4 trillion, cementing its position as the world’s most valuable by market capitalization.

“It took 24 years for Nvidia to reach a valuation of $1 trillion, but just nine months to double in size and little over 3 more to take it to $3 trillion last year,” wrote Saxo Markets analyst Neil Wilson.

“It’s been a more up-and-down journey since then to get north of $4tn-we’ve had DeepSeek, sweeping and unsettling restrictions on chip exports, and of course the topsy-turvy journey of Trump’s tariffs. But investors have seen through all this to ride the AI wave,” he added.

The next catalyst for Nvidia could be securing permission to sell AI chips to China again. Huang met U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday before traveling to the People’s Republic, according to multiple reports.

Huang has previously said the Trump administration’s restrictions on chip exports to China will cost his company $15 billion in sales, and claimed the limits are counterproductive as they will encourage the growth of the domestic Chinese chip-making industry.

In addition to making the case to sell hardware to China, it is likely Huang and Trump will have discussed the potential imposition of the president’s wide-ranging global tariffs on the chips sector. While chips have been exempt from the levies until now, the U.S. president said Tuesday that he would soon announce tariffs on imported semiconductors, though he didn’t specify a level or date.

Among other chip makers, Advanced Micro Devices was down 0.7% and Broadcom was falling 0.6% in morning trading.

Write to Adam Clark at adam.clark@barrons.com