Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) roared higher last year, gaining more than 170%, and emerged as the key player in the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. This is because the tech giant sells the world's top performing AI chips as well as a wide range of related products and services to accompany customers throughout their AI stories.

Nvidia’s stock is off to a positive start after a wild Monday. Shares of the chipmaking giant were recently up about 2%, easily outpacing the slight rise in the S&P 500. The first hours of Tuesday’s session followed a start to the week that marked Nvidia’s (NVDA) worst day in years,

Since the start of 2023, Nvidia's (NASDAQ: NVDA) stock has gained an astronomical 906% as of the time of writing. While this is common investor thinking, it's caused many (including myself) to miss a large chunk of Nvidia's rise.

One of the biggest beneficiaries of this trend is Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), which pioneered the graphics processing units (GPUs) that have become the gold standard for running AI systems. However, reports emerged recently that suggested a Chinese start-up had cracked the code for developing strong AI systems while using inferior chips and novel training processes.