Nvidia tops Microsoft, regains most valuable company title for first time since January

On Tuesday, Nvidia eclipsed Microsoft to reclaim its status as the most valuable publicly traded company globally. The artificial intelligence chipmaker saw its shares increase by approximately 3%, reaching $141.40, and has experienced an impressive 24% rise in stock value over the past month, despite ongoing concerns over export controls and tariffs. Currently, Nvidia boasts a market capitalization of $3.45 trillion, while Microsoft follows closely at $3.44 trillion. Since last June, Nvidia has frequently swapped positions with Apple and Microsoft at the top of the market cap leaderboard. The last time Nvidia held the title of most valuable company was on January 24. On the same day, the semiconductor sector saw gains, with Broadcom rising by 3% and Micron Technology climbing 4%. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF, which tracks various chip stocks, also recorded a 2% increase. Recently, Nvidia announced adjusted earnings of 96 cents per share on $44.06 billion in revenue for its fiscal first quarter, marking a remarkable 69% growth compared to the previous year—a noteworthy achievement for such a large entity. This expansion has largely been driven by the demand for its AI chips, which are essential for companies like OpenAI in creating advanced software such as ChatGPT. Major tech firms including Microsoft, Meta, Google, Amazon, Oracle, and xAI have been acquiring Nvidia's AI accelerators in substantial quantities to enhance their capabilities in AI development. Originally established in 1993 to manufacture chips for 3D gaming, Nvidia has transformed in recent years as its chip designs proved to be highly effective for the parallel processing required in AI applications.