Nvidia passes Apple in market cap as second-most valuable public U.S. company

Nvidia surpassed Apple in market capitalization on Wednesday, becoming the second most valuable corporation behind Microsoft, following its record-breaking $3 trillion milestone and a 5% increase in its shares. At market closure, Nvidia’s market worth was $3.019 trillion, compared to Apple’s $2.99 trillion. Still keeping its title as the most valuable publicly traded business, Microsoft maintained its lead with a market capitalization of $3.15 trillion. Nvidia last exceeded Apple in market capitalization in 2002, five years before the first iPhone hit the market. At the time, Apple and Nvidia were each worth less than $10 billion. In May 2023, Nvidia’s market valuation surpassed a trillion dollars, and in February of the following year, it achieved a milestone of $2 trillion.

Since it released its quarterly profits in May of last year, Nvidia’s shares have increased significantly—by more than 24 percent. Today, Nvidia controls 80% of the market for AI processors for data centers, which are garnering billions of dollars in investment from major cloud vendors. Given that only a few number of cloud providers can sustain such growth, investors are feeling more at ease with the chip maker’s enormous sales growth. In the latest quarter, its revenue from the data center sector, including GPU sales, surged to $22.6 billion, marking a remarkable 427% increase from the previous year. This tremendous growth contributed to an overall sales increase of 86%.

Nvidia’s CEO has stated that it plans to upgrade its AI accelerators every year. Nvidia’s shares have gone parabolic as its AI business has had a stupendous growth of over 3000% over the past 5 years. It’s quite obvious that investors are very interested in the company, as many AI projects use the company’s chips for their products, pushing the AI boom further. Following Wednesday’s closing, Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang’s wealth has rose by $107.4 billion. Nvidia is bullish about second quarter of fiscal 2025, expecting a revenue of $28 billion from $26 billion in the first quarter. The company expects income at about $300 million, with GAAP gross margins at 74.8%. The company has reaped significant benefits from its investment in artificial intelligence. 

Standing at this point, The CEO of Nvidia Jensen Huang has declared that the company intends to improve its AI accelerators annually. His net worth has grown by more than $5 billion since the closure on Wednesday, reaching $107.4 billion. Over the past five years, Nvidia’s AI division has grown at an astounding rate of over 3000%, which has caused its shares to soar. Given that many AI projects employ its chips for their products, furthering the AI boom, it is evident that investors are extremely drawn to the company. Nvidia is optimistic about the second quarter of the fiscal year 2025, projecting $28 billion in revenue compared to $26 billion in the first. It projects revenue of roughly $300 million and GAAP gross margins of 74.8%. 

Last but not least, based on the behavior of its shares, Nvidia is closing the gap with Microsoft and is likely to overtake it eventually.