Nvidia overtakes Microsoft and Apple to become the world's most valuable company

Artificial intelligence rally steams ahead with the US chip maker jumping to $3.3 trillion capitalisation

An analyst says Nvidia's rapid rise shows the Fourth Industrial Revolution is well under way. Reuters

Nvidia’s relentless rally propelled the semiconductor giant’s market capitalisation over its tech peers on Tuesday, making it the world’s most valuable company as the artificial intelligence wave continues.

The stock rose 3.5 per cent to close at $135.58 a share on Tuesday, putting the company’s market value at about $3.3 trillion and catapulting it over those of Microsoft and Apple.

The top stocks have jockeyed all month for the pole position, with Nvidia finally edging past both of its big-tech peers.

Earlier in the month, Nvidia capped Apple by market value for the first time since 2002, and the two went back and forth in rankings in recent days.

Last week, Apple also overtook Microsoft to trade in the top spot briefly.

The ranking is yet another reminder that AI is the top focus of many investors.

Nvidia is regarded as the biggest and earliest beneficiary of the technology as it dominates the market with its highly sought-after chips that help to power data centres running complex computing tasks required by AI applications.

Demand for its H100 accelerators are surging and helped drive the chip maker’s sales up by more than 125 per cent last year.

Microsoft is also seen as an early AI winner given its investment and partnership with OpenAI, which created ChatGPT.

This week, Apple shares rallied after the iPhone maker finally unveiled its plan for using the technology, appeasing investors at long last.

“We believe over the next year the race to $4 trillion market cap in tech will be front and centre between Nvidia, Apple, and Microsoft,” Daniel Ives, analyst at Wedbush Securities, wrote in a note.

Nvidia’s surging stock price has made co-founder and chief executive Jensen Huang one of the world’s richest people.

His net worth has climbed nearly $75 billion since the beginning of the year to $119 billion, putting him in 12th place on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That’s the biggest gain among his billionaire peers.

Investors and Mr Huang say Nvidia is more than a chip maker.

“They’re not just selling chips, they’re selling systems,” said Michael Lippert, vice president and portfolio manager at the Baron Capital, pointing to the company’s proprietary software and development ecosystem.

Nvidia’s swift climb to the top has been record breaking, as the company is one of the few to have demonstrated significant revenue growth from AI.

Shares have risen more than 170 per cent in 2024 so far, adding more than $2 trillion to its market capitalisation.

“Nvidia’s GPU chips are in essence the new gold or oil in the tech sector, as more enterprises and consumers quickly head down this path with the Fourth Industrial Revolution well under way,” Mr Ives said.