Nvidia Surpasses Microsoft to Become World’s Most Valuable Public Company Again

Nvidia has reclaimed its spot as the most valuable publicly traded company in the world, surpassing Microsoft in market capitalization for the first time since January.

The AI chipmaker’s stock closed 3% higher at $141.40 on Tuesday, giving it a market valuation of approximately $3.45 trillion, slightly ahead of Microsoft’s $3.44 trillion. The milestone caps a remarkable run for Nvidia, which has seen its stock surge nearly 24% over the past month.

This latest rise in valuation comes amid continued momentum in the artificial intelligence sector, where Nvidia maintains a dominant position thanks to its high-performance AI chips.

Fueling the AI Boom

Nvidia’s recent rally follows a strong earnings report last week, with the company posting $44.06 billion in revenue and $0.96 in adjusted earnings per share for the fiscal first quarter. The results represented 69% year-over-year growth, an exceptional figure for a firm of its size.

“Nvidia's growth trajectory remains unmatched in the semiconductor space,” said one market analyst. “Its chips are essential infrastructure for the AI revolution.”

Nvidia’s accelerators are widely used in training large-scale AI models. Its clients include major technology firms such as Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Google, Oracle, and xAI — all of whom are building expansive data centers powered by Nvidia hardware.

Notably, OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, is also heavily reliant on Nvidia's GPUs to train and deploy its AI models.

Industry Momentum

The broader semiconductor sector also benefited from Nvidia’s rise on Tuesday. Shares of Broadcom gained 3%, Micron Technology rose 4%, and the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) — which tracks a basket of chipmakers — advanced 2%.

Nvidia has been jockeying for the top valuation spot with Apple and Microsoft since mid-2024. The last time Nvidia held the title of most valuable company was on January 24, 2025.

From Gaming to Global Dominance

Founded in 1993, Nvidia initially focused on building chips for 3D gaming. Its graphics processing units (GPUs) became popular for their ability to render complex graphics in real-time — a feature that later proved to be a perfect match for parallel computing needs in scientific and artificial intelligence applications.

As AI development accelerated, Nvidia’s architecture emerged as the industry standard for model training and inference, transforming it into a central player in today’s global tech landscape.