Nvidia became the world’s most valuable publicly traded company in 2024 after surpassing Microsoft in market capitalization.
Nvidia’s stock-price surge was driven largely by demand for GPUs used in artificial-intelligence computing. Technology companies and cloud providers invested heavily in data-center hardware, while Nvidia supplied both chips and a software ecosystem that helped developers use them.
Nvidia was founded by Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky, and Curtis Priem in 1993. It first built its reputation in computer graphics, especially gaming, before expanding into professional visualization, automotive systems, and data centers.
The leadership change was not permanent in every session: Apple and Microsoft also repeatedly traded places near the top. A market-cap ranking is a snapshot based on share prices, so the “world’s most valuable” title can change from day to day.