Nvidia briefly became the world's most valuable company in June 2024 after an AI-driven share-price rise.
Nvidia overtook Microsoft and Apple in June 2024 as its market capitalization climbed above $3 trillion. The company later moved back and forth among the top positions as share prices changed. Its rapid rise was closely linked to demand for graphics processing units used to train and run artificial-intelligence systems.
Nvidia was founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky, and Curtis Priem. Although it began as a graphics-chip company associated with computer games, its CUDA software platform and data-center hardware made it central to modern AI computing.
The ranking was based on public share prices and outstanding shares, not on revenue or physical assets. Because market caps change every trading day, a company can hold the top position temporarily without being the largest by every business measure.