Nvidia set to become the world's most valuable company in history
Shares of the leading designer of high-end AI chips were up 2.2 per cent at US$160.6 in morning trading, giving the company a higher market capitalization than Apple's record closing value of US$3.915-trillion on December 26, 2024.
Nvidia's newest chips have made gains in training the largest artificial-intelligence models, fueling demand for products by the Santa Clara, California, tech company.
Microsoft (MSFT-Q) is currently the second-most valuable company on Wall Street, with a market capitalization of US$3.7-trillion as its shares rose 1.4 per cent on US$498.
Apple (AAPL-Q) rose 0.5 per cent, giving it a stock market value of US$3.19-trillion, in third place.
A race among Microsoft, Amazon.com (AMZN-Q), Meta Platforms (META-Q), Alphabet (GOOGL-Q) and Tesla (TSLA-Q) to build AI data centers and dominate the emerging technology has fueled insatiable demand for Nvidia's high-end processors.
The stock market value of Nvidia, whose core technology was developed to power video games, has nearly octupled over the past four years from US$500-billion in 2021.
Nvidia is now worth more than the combined value of the Canadian and Mexican stock markets, according to LSEG data. The tech company also exceeds the total value of all publicly listed companies in the United Kingdom.
Nvidia recently traded at about 32 times analysts' expected earnings for the next 12 months, below its average of about 41 over the past five years, according to LSEG data. That relatively modest price-to-earnings valuation reflects steadily increasing earnings estimates that have outpaced Nvidia's sizable stock gains.
The company's stock has now rebounded more than 68 per cent from its recent closing low on April 4, when Wall Street was reeling from President Donald Trump's global tariff announcements. U.S. stocks, including Nvidia, have recovered on expectations that the White House will cement trade deals to soften Trump's tariffs.
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