The shares of Nvidia rallied to record highs on Wednesday, with the chipmaker’s stock market valuation hitting the $3 trillion mark. Nvidia has overtaken Apple to become the world’s second most valuable company for the first time after 2002, five years before the first iPhone was released.
A year ago, Nvidia’s market value was $1.2 trillion which was a fraction of Apple’s $3 trillion. Microsoft still remains the largest company all around the world, valued at $140 billion more than Apple and Nvidia.
The rally in Nvidia shares comes as the company prepares to split its stock ten-for-one, effective on June 7, a move to increase its appeal to individual investors.
Nvidia’s stock has surged 147 percent so far in 2024 with companies like Microsoft, Meta Platforms and Google-owner Alphabet outstripped the supply of AI chips. The firms are in the race to build AI computing capabilities and dominate the market.
In Wednesday’s trading session, Nvidia’s stock briefly hit an intra-day record high of $1,223.59, giving it a value of $3.010 trillion at a moment when Apple’s stood at about $3.005 trillion.
The chipmaker’s stock was last up 4.9% at $1,221.51, giving Nvidia a market value of $3.004 trillion. Apple’s market capitalization was last at $3.00 trillion as its stock climbed 0.7%.
Nvidia has shown no signs of slowing down or letting its rivals catch up; the company’s Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang said the firm plans to upgrade its so-called AI accelerators every year. Wednesday’s stock gain increased his wealth by more than $5 billion to $107.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
“We see this sea change as in the very early innings,” said Angelo Zino, senior equity analyst at CFRA Research.
After the CEO’s keynote, Zino said he likes “the improved visibility” and sees “greater momentum on the GPU/CPU/networking side driving upside to consensus estimates.”
