Chipmaker Nvidia has smashed a record for the biggest single-day increase in market capitalization, just weeks after Meta last set it.

The numbers: Nvidia added roughly US$270 billion to its valuation Thursday after its shares surged about 16 per cent following the release of its fourth-quarter earnings. That handily beat Meta’s previous record-setting addition of US$197 billion to its market cap in a single day, which also followed an earnings report that beat expectations.

Why Nvidia popped: In addition to reporting revenue and profit that beat analysts’ expectations, Nvidia delivered a rosy sales forecast, predicting revenue in the current quarter of about US$24 billion. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company is on a hot streak as the supplier of chips that process data for AI models, a technology that’s booming in investments and public interest. “The company is printing money at this point,” Stacy Rasgon, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, told Bloomberg.

Climbing the charts: The chipmaker’s hot streak has helped it rise the ranks of the world’s most valuable firms. Earlier this month, the company surpassed the market value of Amazon and Alphabet over the course of two days. With a market capitalization of US$1.9 trillion, it’s now the third-largest U.S. company.

AI fever: Nvidia isn’t the only stock that popped Thursday. Equities hit all-time highs around the world and the “Magnificent Seven” group of large tech stocks led gains. Japan’s Nikkei 225 hit a historic peak for the first time since 1989 and the S&P 500 rose to its highest point since November.

Just getting started: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang predicted there’s more upside to come in an earnings call Wednesday. “We are now at the beginning of a new industry” powered by generative AI, he said, predicting Nvidia will play a role similar to power generation plants in the industrial revolution. “Generative AI has kicked off a whole new investment cycle,” he said.