If You'd Invested $1,000 in Nvidia (NVDA) Stock 10 Years Ago, Here's How Much You'd Have Today |

Nvidia(NVDA -1.43%) was once only known as the leading provider of graphics processing units (GPUs) for the video game industry. But it leaned on its strengths, helping other industries find uses for its GPUs over the years. And in recent years, the leads it gained in developing parallel processors and attracting developers to create code for them on its CUDA platform positioned it to become the top provider by far of accelerator chips for the artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure build-out. The gains that its long-term investors have captured thanks to that multitrillion-dollar spending spree are truly incredible.

If you’d invested $1,000 in this AI stock 10 years ago, here’s how much your stake would be worth today.

Nvidia shares have generated a total return of 13,930% in the last 10 years (as of Oct. 6). This phenomenal gain would’ve turned a starting $1,000 investment into more than $140,000 today. The momentum has continued this year, with the stock up 28% in 2026.

Investors would struggle to find any stocks that have performed better since October 2016. Getting into this chipmaker ahead of a generational technological secular trend paid off for those who did so and held on.

Nvidia is arguably the most important business in the world right now, as it sits at the center of the AI boom. Revenue growth, driven by insatiable demand for its data center graphics processing units, has been a key catalyst benefiting investors.

Profits have been more impressive, though. Diluted earnings per share (EPS) climbed 128% year over year in its fiscal 2027 Q2 (which ended July 26). The consensus view among sell-side analysts following Nvidia is that its EPS will rise at a compound annual rate of 65% from fiscal 2026 to fiscal 2029 as its large customers keep spending to expand their compute capacity.

Neil Patel has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.