Nvidia surpassed Apple in market value during trading yesterday, Tuesday, November 5, to become the most valuable public company in the world for the second time.
Nvidia shares rose about 3% to close Tuesday's session with a market cap of $3.43 trillion, ahead of Apple's $3.4 trillion.
Nvidia shares have nearly tripled in 2024, with investors showing continued confidence in the company's ability to maintain rapid growth from its graphics processing units (GPUs) and a leadership position in the artificial intelligence market, according to CNBC.
Apple shares are up about 17% this year, even as many analysts say the recent release of Apple's suite of intelligence features for iPhones could boost sales and put the company in a leadership position over edge AI, which relies less on GPU-based servers.
Nvidia is the market-dominant supplier of graphics processing units, which are used to develop and deploy advanced AI software like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Its stock has risen more than 2,700% in the past five years, and revenue has more than doubled in each of the past five quarters.
Apple was the first company to reach a market cap of $1 trillion and $2 trillion. Nvidia previously surpassed Apple in June before falling back over the summer.
Microsoft, the third-most valuable company in the world with a market cap of nearly $3.1 trillion, is a major customer for Nvidia's GPUs to fuel its partnership with OpenAI, as well as its own AI ambitions.
Founded in 1991 to make chips for 3D gaming, Nvidia took off in recent years for a very different reason. Over the past decade, scientists and researchers discovered that the same Nvidia chip designs that could render polygons and computer graphics were ideal for the kind of parallel processing needed for artificial intelligence. Nvidia then developed software and chips specifically for AI.
Apple reported a 6% increase in revenue for its fiscal fourth quarter last week, but it signaled weaker growth than analysts had expected in the current period. Nvidia is scheduled to report its earnings on Nov. 20.
S&P Dow Jones announced on Friday that Nvidia will join the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Friday, replacing longtime rival Intel and joining Apple in the blue-chip index.
