Nvidia shares hit record high, challenges Apple as world's most valuable company

What just happened? There have been plenty of warnings recently that Nvidia's meteoric rise over the last 22 months is about to come to an abrupt end, but we're still not seeing any signs of it happening. Team Green's share price has just hit an all-time high as it looks set to once again take the title of world's most valuable company.

Nvidia's share price has been climbing since January 2023, back when it was $14.86. The company provides an estimated 80% or more of the advanced GPU hardware used for training and running AI models, such as the A100 and H100 series. With the generative AI revolution in full swing, Nvidia stock is now at an all-time high of $138.07, an 829% increase over the last year and a half.

The price rise means that Nvidia's market capitalization has now hit $3.39 trillion. That puts it in second place on the list of largest companies by market cap, above Microsoft's $3.12 trillion and just below leader Apple's $3.52 trillion.

Nvidia will almost certainly unseat Apple as the world's most valuable company if the current trend continues. It wouldn't be the first time that Jensen Huang's firm has been in this position. In June, the company briefly overtook Apple and Microsoft at the top of the rich list.

Largest Companies by Marketcap

Courtesy of companiesmarketcap.com

It was reported last week that overwhelming demand for Nvidia's upcoming Blackwell GPUs had led to a 12-month backlog. Companies such as Microsoft, AWS, and Google have purchased every Blackwell GPU, which includes the B200 GPU and GB200 Grace super chip, that Nvidia and its manufacturing partner TSMC can produce for the next four quarters.

To help meet Blackwell demand, Nvidia is partnering with Foxconn to significantly boost availability. The Taiwanese manufacturer said it is constructing the largest GB200 production facility in the world in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Nvidia will be relieved to see its stock price reach a record high, considering there were warnings that the AI bubble had burst last month. A report on the state of the manufacturing sector and claims (which it later denied) that Nvidia had received a subpoena from the Department of Justice as part of an antitrust probe wiped $279 billion off the company's market cap, the largest one-day drop in US history. But it didn't take long for the firm to recover.