Nvidia's stock reached an intraday record on Friday, pushing the chipmaker's market capitalization to $5.7 trillion as a weak U.S. jobs report cooled expectations for Federal Reserve rate hikes. The rally followed the company's announcement of a $150 billion share repurchase authorization, the largest buyback in corporate history.
The $150 billion program replaces Nvidia's prior buyback authority and represents a 25 percent increase from the previous $120 billion authorization. The stock climb also broke through its prior peak set in May 2026, when the company's market value topped $3.3 trillion during the peak of AI enthusiasm. Friday's intraday record came as the Labor Department reported just 29,000 nonfarm jobs added in September, far below economist forecasts of 90,000.
Nvidia has emerged as the primary beneficiary of artificial intelligence infrastructure spending, with its data center business generating most of its revenue. The $5.7 trillion valuation means Nvidia now trades at a scale exceeded only by Saudi Aramco among non-technology firms globally. The company's market value has roughly doubled since early 2024 as enterprise customers expanded GPU purchasing for training and inference workloads.
Share buybacks are a standard capital return tool for large technology firms. Nvidia authorized its first repurchase program in 2007 and has completed multiple cycles since. The new $150 billion authorization gives the company flexibility to repurchase shares if executives judge them undervalued, though no obligation to deploy the full amount. The company's current annual free cash flow, disclosed in recent quarterly filings, provides the capital base to fund repurchases without debt financing.
The buyback announcement came weeks after Nvidia reported second-quarter revenue of $30.1 billion, up 126 percent year-over-year, driven by sustained demand for its H200 and H100 GPUs. Gross margins expanded to 75.1 percent in the quarter. Nvidia's balance sheet holds $31.6 billion in cash and short-term investments as of the most recent quarter, giving substantial room for the program.
Competitors including AMD and smaller chip designers have announced new products aimed at reducing Nvidia's GPU market share, but none have displaced its position in data center spending. The company's stock now trades at roughly 70 times trailing twelve-month earnings, above historical technology sector averages.
The document to watch is Nvidia's next quarterly earnings report in October, where management will detail whether demand from hyperscalers and enterprise customers continues to track at current run rates or shows signs of moderation.
