Nvidia became the world’s most valuable publicly traded company in June 2024 after its market capitalization overtook Microsoft.
Nvidia’s rise was driven by demand for the GPUs and networking products used in artificial-intelligence data centers. On June 18, 2024, its market value briefly exceeded those of Microsoft and Apple, making it the top-ranked public company by market capitalization at that point.
The ranking was based on share price multiplied by shares outstanding, so it could change with ordinary daily trading. Nvidia’s position did not mean it was the largest company by employees, factories, revenue, or total economic influence.
Nvidia began as a graphics-chip designer for PCs and video games. Its later success in accelerated computing made its hardware central to many AI systems. The company’s rapid ascent also made it a major example of how expectations about a technological shift can reshape market-cap rankings.