TOPLINE
Chip designer and artificial intelligence juggernaut Nvidia narrowly topped Microsoft’s market capitalization Tuesday to become the world’s most valuable public company, less than two weeks after it surpassed Apple’s market cap following months of strong stock gains.
KEY FACTS
Nvidia shares traded up more than 3% Tuesday afternoon at around $135.65, while Microsoft traded down a fraction of a percent at $447.58.
The stock performances sent Nvidia’s market cap up to $3.33 trillion and Microsoft’s to $3.32 trillion.
Nvidia’s stock is up about 12% since its recent stock split, which brought its price down from $1,210 per share to about $120 per share.
Nvidia began the year with a $1.2 trillion market value, less than half of Microsoft and Apple’s market cap at the time.
BIG NUMBER
177%. That’s how much Nvidia’s market cap has spiked since the start of the year, when shares traded at $48.17 (adjusted for stock split).
FORBES VALUATION
We estimate Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s net worth at $118.8 billion, making him the 11th-richest person in the world—the highest ranking he’s secured on Forbes’ real-time billionaires list.
KEY BACKGROUND
Nvidia’s milestone comes amid an artificial intelligence craze that has made its chips and graphics processing units increasingly valuable to fellow tech companies like Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and Alphabet. Microsoft is estimated to make up 15% of Nvidia’s revenue, according to Bloomberg supply chain data, and Nvidia is estimated to control between 70% and 95% of the AI chip market, CNBC reported, citing Mizuho Securities. Nvidia, which reported $8.4 billion in net income in its 2023 fiscal year, shows little to no signs of slowing down, as analysts forecast its net income to surpass Apple’s in just four years.
FURTHER READING
Nvidia Shares Now Trading At Just $120 After Stock Split In Wake Of Monstrous Run (Forbes)