The Silicon Valley giant Nvidia has etched its name in history as the world’s most valuable corporation. Its stock skyrocketed to unprecedented levels on Tuesday, propelling its market capitalization to a staggering $3.34 trillion (£2.63 trillion). This meteoric rise was fueled by a near-doubling of its share price since the dawn of the year.
As the trading bell rang, Nvidia’s stock closed at a record high of nearly $136, surging 3.5% and eclipsing the tech behemoth Microsoft in terms of market value. Earlier this month, it had already dethroned the reigning king, Apple, from the top spot.
The Californian chipmaker’s stratospheric ascent can be attributed to its dominance in what analysts at Wedbush Securities have dubbed the “new gold or oil in the tech sector” – the chips that power the burgeoning field of artificial intelligence (AI).
“Over the next year, we believe the race to a $4 trillion market cap in tech will be front and center between Nvidia, Apple, and Microsoft,” Wedbush Securities noted earlier this week, underscoring the intense competition among these tech titans.
While some analysts have raised eyebrows over Nvidia’s ability to sustain such astronomical gains, given the increasing competition it faces, the company’s remarkable growth trajectory is undeniable.
Eight years ago, the stock was worth a mere fraction of its current value, less than 1% of its present-day price. Back then, Nvidia’s worth stemmed from its rivalry with AMD in the quest to produce the best graphics cards.
However, in recent years, the company has reaped the rewards of a surging demand for chips that train and run generative AI models, with OpenAI’s ChatGPT being the most prominent example.
Nvidia also benefited substantially from the Bitcoin mining frenzy in 2020, which triggered a sharp uptick in sales of its graphics cards.
The tech giant’s meteoric rise has been mirrored by the increasing prominence of its CEO, Jensen Huang. Some have even bestowed upon the 61-year-old electrical engineer the moniker “Taylor Swift of tech,” a nod to the celebrity status he has attained.
While competition in the AI arena is fierce, with tech heavyweights like Microsoft, Google-owner Alphabet, Meta, and Apple vying to create the ultimate AI product, Nvidia’s dominance in the AI chip market positions it as a key beneficiary.
Nvidia’s sales and profit figures have consistently surpassed analyst expectations in recent years, with demand showing no signs of abating, according to some experts.
However, a minority of analysts remain skeptical, questioning Nvidia’s ability to maintain its substantial market share amid the influx of competitors and raising concerns over how Nvidia’s customers will monetize AI software.
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