The Artificial Intelligence chip maker Nvidia has dethroned Microsoft as the world’s most valuable company.
This rise to the top was possible because of the increase in the chipmaker’s market capitalisation, which hit $3.335 trillion as its shares rose by 3.5 percent to $135.58.
The feat comes just days after the California-based company overthrew Apple to become the world’s second most valuable company. Shares of Microsoft and Apple, holders of the number two and three spots, fell by 0.45 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.
Nvidia’s rally, which has lifted the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes to record highs, continues the company’s winning streak, whose graphics processing units (GPUs) are integral to the development of AI.
The high demand for its chips from tech giants such as Microsoft, Meta and Google has pushed its stock up by nearly 182 percent this year alone after more than tripling in 2023.
Nvidia controls about 80 per cent of the market for AI chips in data centres that run AI models such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Nvidia shares have skyrocketed 591,078 percent since its stock market debut in 1999.
Nvidia spent its first few decades focusing mainly on producing chips for computer games, however in the 2000s, Jensen Huang, the company’s Chief Executive directed the company to invest heavily in developing GPUs for use in applications besides gaming, setting it up to capitalise on the emergence of AI.
According to Forbes, the company’s stunning rise has made Huang the 11th richest man in the world, with an estimated net worth of more than $ 117 billion.
