When Nvidia's CEO speaks, investors listen

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said Tuesday that Marvell Technology is the "next trillion-dollar company," and investors listened: The stock soared nearly 33% in a day.

Why it matters: As leader of the most valuable company in the world, Huang is one of a select few who can move markets simply by saying stuff — a kingmaker of sorts.

• An investment from Nvidia can also drive investor interest.

Zoom in: In this case, Nvidia in March announced a $2 billion investment in Marvell, which makes semiconductors and high-speed networking technology used in data centers.

• The company, like many chipmakers, is seeing remarkable AI-driven growth. Revenue was $2.4 billion in its most recent quarter, a 28% increase from last year — and profits were up by a similar percentage, the company said last month.

Where it stands: But it was Huang's comments that really gave the stock liftoff.

• Speaking at a trade show in Taiwan Tuesday, alongside Marvell CEO Matt Murphy, Huang said the company's chips were "essential" to data centers.
• Marvell's stock soared to $290.79 from $219.43 the day before.

Stunning stat: Marvell's market cap shot up to just under $250 billion — last year it was $53 billion.

Reality check: That's still a ways off from $1 trillion, but what even are numbers these days?

Zoom out: Huang on Monday also drove software stock prices higher when he said, contra conventional wisdom, that AI is good for the software industry.

• "This is actually an incredible time to be a software company," he said, per MarketWatch.

Flashback: Huang can move stocks down, too. Last year, after he said that useful quantum computers were still decades away, companies in that sector lost billions of dollars in market cap.