Nvidia Could Dethrone Apple as the Most Valuable Company

Nvidia’s shares closed at their second highest ever last week, bringing the AI chipmaker on the verge of stripping Apple of its status as the world’s most valuable company.

Nvidia’s stock rose by 2.4% on October 15th to end the day at $138.07, slightly below its all-time high of $140.76 on June 20th this year. In the same month, Nvidia became the world’s most valuable company, with a market capitalization of around $3.3 trillion. But soon after, Microsoft took over. The three tech giants have been in a close race ever since. Other tech giants Nvidia defeated include Google’s parent, Alphabet, and e-commerce mogul, Amazon.

With the latest gains, Nvidia’s market value jumped to $3.39 trillion, neck-to-neck with Apple’s $3.52 trillion value and above Microsoft’s $3.12 trillion.

Financial services firm Wedbush Securities predicts, “We believe over the next year, the race to a $4 trillion market cap in tech will be front and center between Nvidia, Apple, and Microsoft.”

Data suggests that AI remains a personal favorite among investors. Nvidia, for example, has added around $2 trillion of its value this year amid the AI boom. Its strong position on the stock market comes from the ever-rising demand for its current and next-generation AI processors.

“We believe the major companies in AI … face an investment environment characterized by a Prisoner’s Dilemma – each is individually incentivized to continue spending, as the costs of not doing so are (potentially) devastating,” TD Cowen analysts wrote in a report on Sunday.

The investment banking company reiterated the $165 price target for Nvidia, which it called its “Top Pick,” amid the strong demand for its latest generation of AI chips.

Back in August, Nvidia confirmed reports that production of upcoming Blackwell chips would be delayed until the fourth quarter. Despite the production halt, demand for its current chips remained strong.

According to global financial markets infrastructure and data provider LSEG, spending on building AI data centers will double Nvidia’s annual revenue to nearly $126 billion.