NVIDIA's stock price surged, surpassing a market value of $3 trillion for the first time.

On Wednesday, NVIDIA's stock price surged, pushing its market value above $3 trillion for the first time as the chipmaker continues to ride the wave of artificial intelligence to new heights.

As of 15:33 Eastern Time, NVIDIA's stock price had risen more than 4% to a high of $1,218.04, setting a record earlier at $1,223.59, bringing its market value above $3 trillion. NVIDIA has become the third company, after Microsoft and Apple, to reach a market value of $3 trillion.

The surge in NVIDIA's stock price was driven by its strong quarterly performance and guidance that exceeded Wall Street's expectations, further boosting the market's optimism about semiconductor spending related to artificial intelligence. In its quarterly earnings report, NVIDIA also announced a plan to split one share into ten, effective June 7, making its stock more affordable and accessible to more investors.

NVIDIA recently announced the launch of a new generation of AI chips to succeed the current Blackwell chips, at a time when competitors, including AMD and Intel, are striving to close the gap.

However, in a report, BofA stated, "Despite claims from competitors (including AMD, Intel, and custom chips or ASICs) that they can compete, we believe NVIDIA has a multi-year lead in performance, product line (Blackwell and its successors), market position, scale, and developer support (over 5 million developers)." BofA reiterated its buy rating on NVIDIA and set a target price of $1,500, the highest in the market.