In a remarkable ascent, Nvidia has surpassed Apple to claim the title of the second-most-valuable company globally. The artificial intelligence (AI) chipmaker’s stock surged by 5% on Wednesday, closing at $1,224.40 per share, which propelled its market valuation to an astonishing $3.019 trillion. This leap nudged Nvidia just ahead of Apple, which maintained a market cap of $2.99 trillion, and positioned it behind only Microsoft, valued at $3.15 trillion.
Nvidia’s rapid growth is largely attributed to the AI boom that has captivated Wall Street. Major technology firms such as Meta Platforms, Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft are in a frenzied rush to acquire Nvidia’s GPU chips, which are essential for AI development. This insatiable demand has catapulted Nvidia from a market valuation of approximately $400 billion in November 2022—around the time when OpenAI introduced ChatGPT—to its current formidable stature.
Apple’s stock, on the other hand, has remained relatively stagnant over the past year. While trading near record highs, it has seen a modest year-to-date increase of 2%, in stark contrast to Nvidia’s impressive 146% rise over the same period. Investors are particularly keen to observe Apple’s forthcoming AI strategy, as the company’s current market valuation sits just $15 billion shy of Nvidia’s.
The AI-driven surge in Nvidia’s stock has not only propelled the company to new heights but also buoyed broader market indices. Both the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq indexes closed at record highs on Wednesday, reflecting the overall bullish sentiment in the tech sector.
Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, recently announced plans to roll out the company’s most advanced AI chip platform, Rubin, by 2026. This new platform is set to succeed the Blackwell chips, introduced in March, which are currently touted as the “world’s most powerful chip.” Nvidia’s dominance in the AI semiconductor market is undisputed, commanding around 70% of sales in this rapidly expanding industry.
Tech analysts are optimistic about Nvidia’s future. Beth Kindig of I/O Fund speculated that Nvidia could potentially reach a valuation of $10 trillion by 2030, citing the company’s robust position in the AI sector and its entrenched CUDA platform, which is becoming the standard for AI engineers. Similarly, Angelo Zino, a senior equity analyst at CFRA Research, suggested that Nvidia could become the most valuable company in the world, given its expansive opportunities to monetize AI.
To make its shares more accessible, Nvidia announced a 10-for-1 stock split last month. This move, set to take effect on June 10, will lower the per-share price and make it easier for individual investors to participate in the company’s continued growth.
In summary, Nvidia’s extraordinary rise underscores the transformative impact of AI on the tech industry. As companies scramble to harness the power of AI, Nvidia stands at the forefront, poised to reshape the technological landscape and redefine market valuations in the years to come.
