Nvidia became the world’s most valuable publicly traded company on June 18, 2024.
Its market capitalization rose rapidly as investors anticipated sustained demand for graphics processors used in artificial-intelligence systems. Nvidia’s shares had already gained dramatically during 2023 and 2024, driven by sales of its data-center accelerators and related software.
Nvidia overtook Microsoft and Apple in market value during that period. Market capitalization is calculated by multiplying a company’s share price by its outstanding shares, so the ranking can change even without a company’s operating results changing on the same day.
Nvidia’s rise was especially notable because it had historically been associated mainly with computer graphics and gaming. Its CUDA software ecosystem and high-performance chips later made it a central supplier for machine-learning workloads. The company did not become the largest company by revenue; this question concerns stock-market value.