Nvidia briefly became the world’s most valuable public company in June 2024 after an artificial-intelligence-driven surge in its share price. Its market capitalization moved above those of Microsoft and Apple during trading on June 18, 2024.
Nvidia designs graphics processing units, or GPUs, that are widely used for parallel computing and AI model training. Demand for its data-center chips rose sharply as cloud providers and technology companies invested in generative artificial intelligence.
The ranking changed quickly because market capitalization moves with share prices. Nvidia did not permanently hold the top position, and intraday leadership can differ from the closing ranking at the end of a trading session. The company’s rise also made it one of the fastest businesses ever to move between trillion-dollar valuation milestones.