Nvidia has seized the crown as the world’s most valuable company, briefly eclipsing Apple in a remarkable show of market dominance driven by increased demand for its advanced AI chips.
This milestone shows Nvidia’s rapid ascent amid the artificial intelligence boom, with the company’s market valuation momentarily peaking at $3.53 trillion—just above Apple’s $3.52 trillion.
The company’s latest boost comes on the heels of a $6.6 billion funding round from OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT, which relies on Nvidia’s GPUs to train its language models.
This jump in demand has been further supported by a robust AI adoption across sectors, reinforcing Nvidia’s role as an indispensable provider in the AI hardware landscape.
Nvidia’s shares hit an all-time high on Tuesday, fuelled by last week’s promising financial results from TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, which reported a 54% quarterly profit jump amid rising demand for AI chips. Investors are now eyeing Nvidia’s third-quarter results due in November.
The company has forecast revenue of around $32.5 billion for the quarter, slightly below market expectations of $32.9 billion according to LSEG data.
Following a recent meeting with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, reports pointed to strong demand for the company’s next-generation Blackwell chips, which are reportedly booked out for the next 12 months. Production of these chips has faced some delays, adding pressure on Nvidia’s supply chain, though the company has reiterated its confidence in meeting market demand.
What to know
Shares in Nvidia, Apple, and Microsoft together make up nearly 20% of the S&P 500 index, with their performance heavily influencing both the technology sector and the broader U.S. market.
The recent fervour around AI, combined with expectations of a potential rate cut from the Federal Reserve, has driven the S&P 500 to new highs, spurring further investor interest. Nvidia’s gains have also propelled it to the forefront of options trading, with its contracts among the most actively traded on the market in recent months.
Nvidia’s 190% share surge this year reflects an intense focus on generative AI, positioning the company as a prime beneficiary of the sector’s explosive growth. However, some investors remain cautious.
Some background on Nvidia
Nvidia was founded on April 5, 1993, by Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky, and Curtis Priem, following a meeting at a Denny’s diner in San Jose, California. Huang, an experienced electrical engineer from LSI Logic and AMD, became the CEO after leaving his secure position. The co-founders aimed to capitalize on the emerging field of accelerated computing, particularly in graphics processing, identifying video games as a lucrative market due to their computational demands.
With initial funding of $40,000 and securing $20 million in venture capital from investors like Sequoia Capital, Nvidia set out to revolutionize graphics acceleration. During the late 1990s, it was one of only two startups to survive in this competitive landscape, alongside ATI Technologies.
