Trillion-Dollar Valuations Redefine Economic Scale as AI Promises GDP Expansion
Jensen Huang's projection of global GDP quintupling to $500 trillion through AI mirrors the disbelief that greeted US Steel's 1901 valuation. The steel giant's $1 billion milestone seemed unfathomable then—today, eleven public companies exceed $1 trillion valuations.
"Hundreds of millions commanded respect," observed historians of the Gilded Age. Now, investors grapple with valuations requiring trillion-dollar revenue assumptions. Aswath Damodaran's reverse DCF analysis suggests Tesla would need $2.2 trillion annual revenue by 2030—a threshold he calls "pushing the limits of possibility."