Nvidia has leapfrogged Apple to become the world’s second most valuable company, fueled by relentless demand for its AI chips. Investors are pouring in, betting big on the future of artificial intelligence—and Nvidia’s dominance in it.
Wall Street Can’t Get Enough of Nvidia
Shares of Nvidia climbed more than 3% on Thursday, pushing the chipmaker’s market cap to $3.01 trillion. That nudged it just past Apple, which ended the day at $3 trillion. Microsoft still holds the top spot, for now.
This isn’t just about stock prices. It’s about how investors are thinking. AI is the big bet, and Nvidia owns the casino.
Traders on the floor of the NYSE were practically glued to Nvidia’s ticker. “It’s all anyone’s talking about,” one broker said. “This is Nvidia’s moment.”
Apple, once the darling of the tech world, now finds itself slightly outpaced by a company that was selling gaming GPUs not too long ago.
The AI Boom Is Feeding Nvidia’s Rise
The surge isn’t random. Nvidia’s chips are basically the brains behind the AI revolution. Chatbots, self-driving cars, data centers—they all run on Nvidia’s hardware.
Companies from Google to Meta to Amazon are snapping up Nvidia’s H100 and A100 chips like there’s no tomorrow. It’s not a fad either. AI adoption is scaling up across every industry: healthcare, banking, logistics—you name it.
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And Nvidia’s grip on the market is intense. According to analysts at TrendForce, Nvidia now controls nearly 80% of the global AI chip supply. That kind of dominance draws a crowd.
Apple Slips Despite Strong Fundamentals
Apple’s market value hasn’t crashed, just stalled. The company is still making money—tons of it. But the narrative has shifted.
Investors want growth, and Apple’s recent updates haven’t exactly wowed. New iPhone models? A little meh. Apple Vision Pro? Cool, but niche. Meanwhile, Nvidia is literally building the infrastructure for the next industrial wave.
And excitement moves markets.
Even Apple’s push into AI—through iOS 18 and new Siri features—hasn’t captured investor imagination the same way Nvidia’s chip pipeline has.
How the Top Three Tech Giants Stack Up Now
Let’s zoom out and look at the current scoreboard. As of market close:
| Company | Market Cap (USD Trillions) | Primary Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft | 3.15 | Cloud & Enterprise AI |
| Nvidia | 3.01 | AI Chips & GPUs |
| Apple | 3.00 | Consumer Tech & Devices |
It’s a tight race, and the order could flip again next week. But for now, Nvidia is riding high—and nobody’s laughing at GPU makers anymore.
This reshuffle has also created fresh chatter about a potential “fourth horse.” Some eyes are on Amazon. Others are watching Tesla.
A Company That Almost Went Bust in 2008
Here’s the kicker: back in 2008, Nvidia was fighting to stay afloat. The financial crisis hit hard, and the GPU market was niche at best.
Fast forward to now, and it’s arguably the most important hardware company on the planet. How’s that for a comeback?
Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s founder and CEO, is now being talked about in the same breath as Steve Jobs and Elon Musk. And that signature leather jacket? It’s almost a meme on finance Twitter.
The guy stuck with graphics chips when everyone else went chasing apps. Now those chips are running the brains of AI.
Funny how the tables turn.
Can Nvidia Keep This Up?
That’s the billion-dollar question, isn’t it? Or should we say, trillion-dollar.
There are risks, obviously. Chip competition is heating up. AMD and Intel are trying to muscle in. Chinese chipmakers are coming up fast, too.
But right now, Nvidia has the lead—and momentum. Its next-generation chips, like the Blackwell series, are already lined up and pre-ordered by the truckload.
Still, no rally lasts forever. Some analysts are already calling this a bubble. Others say it’s just the start of a new era.
At this point, though, betting against Nvidia feels more like swimming upstream.
