Nvidia Is South Korea's Favorite Foreign Stock: Jensen Huang's Chip Company Can't Stop Winning

One of the top gaining S&P 500 stocks over the last year has been NVIDIA Corporation NVDA, which just reported a beat and raise in the first quarter.

Investors and funds are flocking to hold shares of the high-growth stock as its artificial intelligence business continues to outperform even the most bullish expectations.

What Happened: Nvidia has soared in value and is now the third most valuable company in the world and finds itself within closing distance of Microsoft and Apple to take over the most valuable company title.

While U.S. investors and ETFs view Nvidia as a prime play for AI growth, international investors are also eyeing Nvidia as a leading stock choice.

New data from Korea Securities Depository shared by Teslarati shows Nvidia as the top stock held by South Korean investors.

According to the report, South Korean investors hold $11.07 billion worth of Nvidia shares. With the new data, Nvidia overtakes Tesla Inc TSLA, which ranks second at $10.67 billion and has been the most popular foreign stock in South Korea for the last four years.

Related Link: Nvidia Now Worth More Than Tesla, Exxon, Walmart, Costco, Netflix, Intel, Disney And Pepsi Combined: The Rise Of An AI Powerhouse

Why It's Important: Teslarati writes that there is potential irony in Nvidia passing Tesla as the chipmaker recently saw shares hit all-time highs after it was announced that Elon Musk's xAI company would be using part of its latest $6 billion funding round to purchase Nvidia graphics processing units.

Tesla passed Amazon as the top foreign stock in South Korea in July 2020 and has held the position since.

Nvidia is currently the third-top holding in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY at 6.2% of assets and the third-largest holding in the Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ at 7.2% of assets.

This means that investors who hold either of the popular ETFs have a decent sized exposure to Nvidia.

A stock split and potential Nvidia inclusion in the Dow Jones Industrial Average could increase investor exposure to the semiconductor giant.

Investors in the United States, South Korea and other countries likely see Nvidia as a top current holding and investment for the future.

NVDA Price Action: Nvidia shares closed at $1,095.95 on Friday, versus a 52-week trading range of $373.56 to $1,158.19. Nvidia shares are up over 170% in the last year.

Read Next: NVIDIA ‘Marching Toward A Three-Trillion Market Cap’: 11 Analysts Size Up Q1 Results As AI Leader ‘Shows No Sign Of Slowing Down’

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