Innovation, Valuation, and the Bubble Question
By Dave H. Huynh
(The Tao of Quantum Investing – October 2025)
π The World’s First $5 Trillion Company — A Scale Beyond Imagination
In late 2025, Nvidia became the first company in human history to reach a market value of US $5 trillion — roughly 43 000 billion NOK, more than double Norway’s Oil Fund and larger than the entire GDP of Germany (≈ US $4.66 trillion).
To put it differently:
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Nvidia ≈ the size of Germany’s whole economy.
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Nvidia + Apple (US $4 trillion) now rival the combined GDPs of Japan and Germany.
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Its value exceeds the combined market caps of Netflix, Tesla, and Amazon.
These numbers stretch beyond comprehension. They represent not just corporate success, but a new stage in human innovation — and perhaps human speculation.
⚡ The AI Revolution and Nvidia’s Role
Nvidia’s GPUs — once designed for gaming — now power the brains of artificial intelligence: ChatGPT’s data centers, self-driving cars, medical imaging, and even robotic factories.
The company’s quarterly profit recently neared US $26 billion, and CEO Jensen Huang envisions Nvidia chips “in everything from cell-towers to humanoid robots.”
Its meteoric rise reflects a deeper story: humanity’s accelerating fusion of silicon and mind. Yet every revolution carries its shadow.
π Boom or Bubble?
As with the internet in the late 1990s, investors now fear an AI bubble.
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Jamie Dimon, CEO of J.P. Morgan, warns of a possible sharp correction within 24 months.
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Others compare the moment to 1999 — when investors chased the “.com dream” without earnings.
However, analysts such as Robert Næss (Nordea) and Harald Magnus Andreassen (SpareBank 1) note a crucial difference:
“The companies of the AI era are earning vast profits. That was not the case in 1999.”
So, while valuations may be high, this boom may rest on a firmer foundation — at least for now.
πͺ Wall Street vs Main Street
The Magnificent Seven — Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet (Google), Meta (Facebook), and Tesla — now dominate the U.S. market. Together they make up roughly US $16 trillion of the S&P 500’s value — nearly 30 % of the entire index.
Traditionally, stock markets reflected the real economy six months ahead — a mirror of future growth.
But today, that mirror is warped.
While mega-cap tech stocks soar, the real economy shows worrisome signs:
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Inflation remains elevated due to tariffs and supply bottlenecks.
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Unemployment is rising in manufacturing and retail sectors.
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The Federal Reserve has begun cutting rates — not from triumph, but to cushion a slowing economy.
The decoupling between Wall Street and Main Street signals that speculative capital may be running ahead of productive reality — a classic setup for imbalance.
☯️ The Tao Between Innovation and Speculation
Just as in nature, when the heat becomes too intense, fire sweeps through the forest. Trees burn, the air fills with smoke, and what was once green turns to ash. This is the Yang phase — the destructive blaze of excess.
Yet from that same ash, new life begins — small shoots, fresh soil, a rebirth stronger and more resilient than before. This is the Yin phase — the quiet renewal that restores balance.
The stock market follows the same rhythm: when speculation overheats, a cleansing correction often follows, clearing away the weak and diseased branches so that healthier growth can emerge. In this way, even collapse becomes a form of creation — the Tao’s cycle of destruction and renewal.
From the ashes of excess, new growth begins — stronger, purer, balanced.
Yang: Destruction by fire Yin: Renewal of the forest
In The Tao of Quantum, such extremes are natural expressions of Yin and Yang — the cosmic rhythm of expansion and contraction.
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Yang (Expansion): the fiery surge of creativity, belief, and capital that propels AI forward.
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Yin (Contraction): the cooling phase when exuberance meets reality and balance returns.
History’s cycles — from railroads to dot-coms — show that every technological dawn is followed by dusk, and then by a truer sunrise.
“When the flame burns too bright, it begins to consume its own fuel.”
The Taoist investor understands: prosperity contains its correction, and correction holds the seed of renewal.
π Epilogue – The Wave of Tao
Whether the AI boom continues or the bubble gently deflates, the Taoic principle remains constant: all phenomena rise, transform, and return.
Innovation and speculation are not enemies; they are twin waves of the same ocean.
The wise observer does not cling to either — he simply rides the rhythm.
Sources
“In balance lies wisdom, and in stillness — clarity.”
Written by Dave H. Huynh
Author of The Tao of Quantum

