As one of the biggest beneficiaries of the artificial intelligence boom, chipmaker Nvidia’s (NVDA) revenue has surged more than 1,000% over the past five years, and its stock price has soared by a similar magnitude. Unlike many other popular AI companies, Nvidia has conducted multiple stock splits to keep its share price affordable, implementing two splits in just the past five years. Since its most recent split, the company’s stock price has risen over 50% — does this signal that a new round of splitting is on the horizon?
Since 2000, Nvidia has carried out six stock splits, averaging once every four years. The most recent split occurred in 2024; based on this average frequency, the next split might be around 2028. However, averages can be misleading. Looking at its historical pattern, Nvidia’s stock splits often occur in pairs, with relatively long intervals between these pairs.
In June 2000, the company executed its first 2-for-1 stock split (meaning shareholders received two new shares for every one old share held, halving the price accordingly while the total value of their holdings remained unchanged). This was quickly followed by a second 2-for-1 split in September 2001. After that, nearly five years passed before the third 2-for-1 split in April 2006. Then, in September 2007, another relatively quick split occurred, this time as a 3-for-2 split (increasing shareholders’ shares by 1.5 times). The two most recent rounds of splits happened in July 2021 (a 4-for-1 split) and 2024 (a substantial 10-for-1 split). This means that if an investor held one share of Nvidia stock before June 2000, it would have multiplied into 480 shares today.
Given the two consecutive large-scale splits in recent years, historical patterns suggest the likelihood of Nvidia initiating another split in the short term seems reduced. However, another key factor deserves attention: the stock price level.
One significant reason companies choose stock splits is that a high share price can put the stock out of reach for many retail investors. Nevertheless, with numerous brokerage platforms now supporting fractional share trading (allowing investors to buy less than a full share), the barrier posed by a high-priced stock has been largely eliminated.
Looking back at Nvidia’s stock prices during its splits, the levels during the first four splits were significantly lower than the current price around $180, ranging from approximately $50 in 2007 to about $142 in 2000. However, the price levels during the last two splits were markedly higher: around $751 in 2021 and reaching approximately $1,200 in 2024. Currently, Nvidia’s stock trades near $180, suggesting that the company seems unlikely to initiate another split until the share price climbs substantially higher.
