In a monumental shift on Wall Street, Nvidia Corporation has surpassed Apple Inc., claiming the title of the world’s most valuable company with a market cap of $3.43 trillion. This milestone highlights the transformative power of artificial intelligence (AI) in reshaping corporate valuations and driving unprecedented growth. Nvidia’s stock, which closed at 2.9% at $139.93, has soared more than 850% since 2022, emphasising the massive investor confidence in AI and its future impact.
How Nvidia came into the Limelight
Founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky, and Curtis Priem. Nvidia started as a graphics processing unit (GPU) company with a focus on gaming. The company revolutionised the gaming industry in 1999 by introducing the GeForce 256, the world’s first GPU, which could handle complex calculations, rendering realistic graphics and enabling immersive gaming experiences. Over the years, Nvidia’s GPUs found applications beyond gaming, expanding into data centres, scientific research, and autonomous driving.
The company’s strategic pivot to AI began in the 2010s, as its GPUs proved uniquely suited to power the heavy computations required for machine learning. This foresight positioned Nvidia as a leader in the AI revolution, culminating in today’s dominance as the essential supplier of chips that power everything from deep learning models to AI-driven business solutions. This history of innovation and adaptability has laid the foundation for Nvidia’s meteoric rise, propelling it to the very top of the tech industry.
AI at the Core of Wall Street’s Heavyweights
The most valuable companies on Wall Street are now, all heavily involved in AI, either through dedicated AI technologies or by embedding AI features across their products. Apple has introduced AI-focused iPhones, while Microsoft, Amazon, and Google parent Alphabet leverage AI in their cloud computing and customer services. Meta Platforms is also building AI-driven ad targetting, solidifying a trend where AI isn’t just an add-on but an essential part of big tech’s DNA. Nvidia’s chip technology powers many of these AI efforts, making it a key enabler of the AI ecosystem.
While Nvidia’s Blackwell chip experienced initial engineering delays, recent developments have reassured investors about its growth potential. Nvidia’s revenue is expected to more than double this fiscal year, with Wall Street projecting another 44% increase the following year. The company’s dominance in AI hardware has made it a cornerstone for major tech firms looking to deepen their AI capabilities. Nvidia alone accounts for about 7% of the weight of the S&P 500 Index and has contributed to nearly a quarter of its 21% gain in 2024, underscoring its market influence.
Investors’ Faith in AI’s Long-Term Promise
AI’s potential has fuelled an investor frenzy, making Nvidia’s 183% stock gain the third-largest in the S&P 500 this year, only behind Vistra Corp. and Palantir Technologies. While Apple’s recent performance raised questions about its revenue growth, Nvidia’s upward trajectory reflects the widespread expectation that AI’s influence on tech will only deepen. OpenAI’s recent $157 billion valuation and the ongoing development of advanced AI models by companies like Alphabet reinforce this confidence.
With tech giants investing hundreds of billions into AI, Nvidia’s position as the premier provider of AI hardware makes it uniquely poised to benefit. As Fall Ainina of James Investment Research put it, “Nvidia overtaking Apple…suggests people expect the AI boom will continue.”
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