What Happened?
On Monday, Nvidia surpassed Apple in market value, becoming the most valuable publicly traded company in the world. Due to the ongoing demand for Nvidia’s GPUs, its stock price has nearly tripled so far in 2024. With a market value of $3.39 trillion, Nvidia has overtaken Apple, not only marking its growth into a tech giant but also symbolizing the arrival of AI’s “iPhone moment.”
Nvidia Becomes the Focus of AI Investment, Market Value Reaches $3.39 Trillion
On November 5, 2024, tech giant Nvidia’s stock price rose by 2%, bringing its market value to $3.39 trillion, surpassing Apple’s $3.36 trillion, making it the most valuable company in the world. Nvidia’s stock price has nearly tripled in 2024 alone, mainly due to investor confidence in its growth potential, particularly the company’s GPU technology and its leadership in the AI market. As a major supplier of GPUs, Nvidia’s products are widely used in the development and deployment of AI software, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Over the past five years, Nvidia’s stock price has increased by more than 2,700%.
According to a report by CNBC, Nvidia’s market value briefly surpassed Apple’s in June, only to decline during the summer. Currently, Microsoft, which ranks third in market value, is also one of Nvidia’s major GPU customers. Asset management company UBS predicts that the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of the AI market will reach 72% by 2027, with AI’s market value reaching $420 billion, and Nvidia is expected to continue benefiting.
Jensen Huang and Nvidia’s Growth Path
Nvidia’s founder Jensen Huang, along with two engineer friends, discussed starting a business in a Denny’s restaurant in San Jose, California in 1993, which was also a place where Huang had worked part-time. In 1995, Nvidia launched its first processor, NV1, and although the product was not ideal, Huang successfully secured funding to continue developing the third-generation graphics chip, RIVA 128, which began Nvidia’s legendary path.
Beyond its early focus on the gaming market, Nvidia later ventured into new tech fields such as AI, high-performance computing, and cloud computing. Jensen Huang emphasized that Nvidia’s earliest developed GPU architecture also benefits AI research, especially excelling in deep learning, thus maintaining the company’s market advantage in generative AI and other high-performance computing applications.
Now, with a market value of $3.39 trillion, Nvidia has surpassed Apple. This achievement not only marks its growth from a startup to a tech giant but also symbolizes the arrival of AI’s “iPhone moment.”
Sources: CNBC, Forbes