Nvidia became the world’s most valuable public company by market capitalization after its 2024 stock surge tied to artificial intelligence.
Nvidia designs graphics processing units, or GPUs, and develops software platforms that let those chips run demanding computation. Its hardware became especially important for training and operating artificial-intelligence models, creating intense demand from cloud providers and technology companies.
On June 18, 2024, Nvidia briefly became the world’s most valuable publicly traded company, surpassing Microsoft and Apple by market capitalization. Market leadership can change quickly because it depends on share prices and shares outstanding rather than a permanent ranking.
Nvidia was founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky, and Curtis Priem. Its early identity centered on computer graphics and gaming, but data-center computing became a major growth engine. The company’s name is commonly written as NVIDIA in its corporate branding.