Nvidia first became the world’s most valuable publicly traded company in 2024 by surpassing Microsoft.
Nvidia briefly took the top position on June 18, 2024, when its market capitalization exceeded Microsoft’s. Apple had also occupied the top spot earlier in the year, so the ranking changed several times as the share prices of the three companies moved. Nvidia’s ascent was powered mainly by demand for its data-center GPUs and related networking products used in artificial-intelligence computing.
Being the most valuable public company means having the highest market capitalization among listed companies at a particular moment. It does not mean having the highest revenue, the most employees, or the largest total economic footprint. Nvidia’s leadership was especially notable because it had historically been known chiefly for graphics hardware, while the AI boom made its accelerator chips essential infrastructure for major technology companies and cloud providers.