New York: Nvidia pushed past Apple on Friday to take the title of the world’s most valuable company, as an amazing run in its stock continues after the chipmaker pushes through a jump in demand for its specialized chips on artificial intelligence. Nvidia reached a market value of $3.53 trillion, a record all-time high just ahead of Apple’s $3.52 trillion, LSEG said.
By the end of the trading day, Nvidia had reached a market capitalization of $3.47 trillion as it rose 0.8%. Apple shares gained 0.4%, placing the iPhone maker at $3.52 trillion. In June, Nvidia briefly had the top spot before being edged out by Microsoft and Apple in a tight market.
Microsoft’s market capitalization had gone up to $3.18 trillion, and this correlated with a 0.8% increase in stock. Nvidia is the largest beneficiary in the tech race among the giants of Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta Platforms since it is the leading provider of processors for AI computing.
From a video game processor company, Nvidia now sees its stock rise about 18 percent this October alone, as news broke out that OpenAI secured its latest funding round at $6.6 billion. Further briskness was communicated through the fact that Western Digital posted its quarterly profit above expectations, raising hopes regarding the demand for data centers.
More companies are now embracing artificial intelligence in their everyday tasks, and demand remains strong for Nvidia chips, said investment director at AJ Bell Russ Mould. As long as the U.S. economy avoids a major downturn, Nvidia is well-positioned as long as it continues to make heavy investments in AI capabilities,” he added.
NVIDIA soared to all-time highs on Tuesday, as the chipmaker continued its rally after a report from TSMC that reported a jaw-dropping 54% increase in quarterly profit following increased demand for AI chips.
Apple, on the other hand, has its own set of issues – among them, very weak demand for iPhones in China, where sales crashed 0.3% in the third quarter while Huawei witnessed an astonishing increase of 42%. Analysts expect the quarterly report from Apple to show an increase in revenue by 5.55% year-over-year to $94.5 billion. That is in stark contrast to projections for Nvidia, which suggest nearly 82% revenue growth to $32.9 billion.
Nvidia, Apple, and Microsoft, which account for about one-fifth of the S&P 500 index, have truly dominated the technology sector and the general stock market in the United States in their last stock moves.
Recent optimism concerning prospects of AI, hopeful expectations for large rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, and a reassuring season of earnings have all propelled the S&P 500 to historic heights.
Nvidia’s shares have risen by nearly 190% this year, boosted by the generative AI boom and successive outstanding forecast. However, the growth of such revenues remains questionable for the long term. According to Rick Meckler of Cherry Lane Investments, “The question is whether the revenue stream will last for a long time and will be driven by the emotion of investors rather than by any ability to prove or disprove the thesis that AI is overdone.”.