3If You Invested $1,000 In Nvidia Stock When ChatGPT Released, Here's…

$1,000. That’s all it would have taken to get meaningful exposure to one of the most explosive stock runs of the AI era.

When ChatGPT launched in late 2022, Nvidia was already a known name in gaming and data-center chips. What most investors didn’t fully grasp yet was that Nvidia was about to become the backbone of the generative AI boom, supplying the computing power that would train and run large language models across the tech industry.

For investors who acted early, the payoff was dramatic.

If you had invested in Nvidia stock when ChatGPT was released, you didn’t need leverage, options, or complex strategies. You just needed access to the market, the ability to place the trade, and $1,000.

That starting point matters because $1,000 isn’t some unreachable bet. It’s the amount SoFi is offering new investors in stock when they open an investing account, the same $1,000 that turned Nvidia into an 11× winner for early AI investors.

Turning $1,000 Into More Than $11,000

When ChatGPT was released, Nvidia shares were trading at about $16.91 on a split-adjusted basis.

A $1,000 investment at that price would have bought you roughly 59 shares.

Fast forward to today, with Nvidia around $192 per share, and that same position would now be worth about $11,300.

In other words, a buy-and-hold investment turned $1,000 into more than eleven times your money (a gain of roughly $10,300) without any strategies.

No leverage.

No options.

No active trading.

Just owning the stock.

Why Nvidia Became the Biggest Winner of the AI Boom

Nvidia didn’t suddenly appear when AI went mainstream, it was already dominant in gaming GPUs and had benefited from earlier waves like crypto mining. What changed with ChatGPT was who needed Nvidia, and how much.

Modern AI models require massive parallel computation. Training and running large language models maps almost perfectly onto Nvidia’s GPUs and its CUDA software ecosystem. As generative AI demand exploded, the world’s biggest tech companies all reached for the same solution.

Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta, OpenAI, and countless AI labs began buying tens of thousands of Nvidia data-center GPUs to build and scale AI infrastructure.

Nvidia didn’t stop at selling chips. It packaged GPUs with networking, CPUs, and enterprise software into full AI systems, turning itself into a one-stop shop for what many now call AI factories. That increased revenue per customer and made switching away far harder.

The Revenue Shift That Changed Everything

Before the AI boom, Nvidia was still largely viewed as a gaming and PC hardware company.

Today, that perception is gone.

Nvidia’s data-center segment now accounts for nearly all of its business, reaching roughly 90% of total revenue in recent quarters. Sales in that segment have grown at triple-digit rates during the AI surge, driving record revenue and profits.

Investors aren’t valuing Nvidia based on gaming cycles anymore. They’re valuing it as the dominant supplier in a multi-trillion-dollar AI infrastructure build-out that could stretch across the rest of the decade.

Why the Market Is Still Willing to Pay Up

Nvidia’s stock didn’t rise just because earnings grew. It rose because expectations shifted.

The market now assumes:

• AI workloads will continue expanding across training and inference
• A massive share of global AI compute spending will keep flowing through Nvidia hardware
• Cloud providers, governments, and enterprises will continue pouring capital into AI data centers

That belief has led investors to assign Nvidia a premium valuation, reflecting current profits and future cash flows tied to AI growth.

The Road Ahead, Opportunity and Risk

Nvidia is rolling out new GPU platforms on a rapid cadence, moving from Hopper to Blackwell and then to its next-generation Rubin platform, expected to begin broad deployment in 2026. Each generation promises major gains in performance and efficiency, designed for more advanced AI workloads.

At the same time, competition is intensifying.

AMD, Intel, and a wave of startups are pushing alternative AI accelerators. Major cloud providers are also investing heavily in their own custom chips to reduce reliance on Nvidia. Geopolitical risks and export controls add another layer of uncertainty.

In reality, Nvidia’s future likely sits somewhere in the middle. It remains a central player in cutting-edge AI, but one operating in a more competitive and politically sensitive environment than during the first phase of the boom.

What This Means for Everyday Investors

The Nvidia story shows how quickly market narratives can shift, and how powerful it can be to invest early in structural trends rather than chasing headlines later.

You don’t need perfect timing or massive capital to participate. You need access, flexibility, and the ability to act when opportunities emerge.

That’s where platforms built for active, self-directed investors come in.

Invest On Your Terms With SoFi

SoFi gives you a way to invest in stocks like Nvidia without paying commissions, whether you’re making your first trade or managing an active portfolio.

With SoFi Active Investing, you can:

• Trade stocks with $0 commissions
• Start with as little as $1
• Learn and invest at your own pace
• Get up to $1,000 in stock when you fund a new account

Whether you’re looking to build long-term positions or stay active as new market trends emerge, SoFi gives you the tools to do it on your terms, without fees eating into your returns.

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