NVIDIA briefly dethrones Apple to become the world's most valuable company

On Friday, October 25, 2024, NVIDIA briefly overtook Apple to become the world's most valuable company with an eye-watering market cap of $3.53 trillion. This put NVIDIA's valuation higher than Apple's $3.52 for a moment, closing the day at $3.47 trillion in second place ahead of Microsoft.

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This market marks the second time NVIDIA has taken the crown from its tech giant rivals Apple and Microsoft, reaching this height in June 2024. Even though it feels like we're only starting to get used to talking about NVIDIA in the same light as companies like Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Meta, with everyone laser-focused on generative AI, this remarkable result makes sense.

NVIDIA, the clear leader in AI hardware software and chip design, has hardware and technology in almost every data center and system currently working with AI models, from significant endeavors from companies like OpenAI to workstations sitting on a desk running desktop RTX hardware in the office of a small startup somewhere.

"More companies are now embracing artificial intelligence in their everyday tasks, and demand remains strong for NVIDIA chips," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

"It is certainly in a sweet spot, and so long as we avoid a big economic downturn in the United States, there is a feeling that companies will continue to invest heavily in AI capabilities, creating a healthy tailwind for NVIDIA."

Naturally, with a meteoric rise that has seen NVIDIA's stock surge by almost 190% this year, there is uncertainty. Companies like Microsoft, AMD, Intel, and many others are developing their own AI accelerators, not to mention that some believe there's simply too much attention (and money) being placed on generative AI.

For now, NVIDIA shows no sign of slowing down. The demand for its next-gen Blackwell AI hardware is unprecedented, with AI GPUs like the B100, B200, and GB200 Superchip set to become the company's most successful product launches - yes, even more popular than the iconic GeForce GTX 1080 Ti.

Jokes aside, NVIDIA is still a leader in consumer graphics and gaming hardware - where it's expected to unveil its next-gen Blackwell-powered gaming GeForce RTX gaming GPUs at CES 2025.