(News Bulletin 247) – The graphics processor specialist passed the $3,000 billion mark in market capitalization on Wednesday evening, becoming the third company to cross this mark. In passing, it takes the place of second world capitalization from Apple.

Nvidia continues to panic the counters and could probably become the most important company on the stock market in history. The graphics processing unit (GPU) specialist passed important milestones on Wednesday. The group crossed the $3,000 billion mark in market capitalization (the stock market value of all of its shares) during the session and at the close.

Nvidia is the third company to cross this mark after Apple in January 2022 and Microsoft in January 2024. But it is above all the speed with which the company reached this threshold which is impressive.

Founded by Jensen Huang in 1993 and listed on the stock market in 1999, Nvidia had exceeded the milestone of 1,000 billion dollars in market capitalization in June 2023, that of 2,000 billion less than a year later, at the end of February 2024, and therefore 3,000 billion three months later, at the beginning of June.

Incidentally, Nvidia took away from Apple at the close the title of second largest market capitalization in the world, with a total capitalization of $3,011 billion at Wednesday’s close, according to companiesmarketcap.com, compared to $3,003 billion for Apple.

Only Microsoft is still ahead of Nvidia, by around $140 billion. Not much in reality given the approximately $1.2 trillion in market capitalization that the company has gained since the start of the year.

The incredible demand for AI

The company gained 147% over the whole of 2024, saw its price multiply by more than 10 since October 2022 and shows an increase over 10 years of… 25,636%.

For over a year now, Nvidia has recorded strong growth in its results, benefiting from the rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI). Nvidia’s graphics processors (GPUs) are, in fact, essential to provide the computing power necessary for training and developing large generative AI language models (ChatGPT, Gemini).

In its latest quarterly results, Nvidia reported a 262% jump in revenue as its profit increased sevenfold to $14.9 billion.

“Investors continue to bet that the AI ​​era that Nvidia is banking on will last much longer, and that there is very strong demand from consumers and businesses who are willing to spend their money on the new chips,” says Naeem Aslam of Zaye Capital.

“For example, Elon Musk recently asked Nvidia to dedicate a specific number of chips to him. This indicates that companies such as Tesla, capable of producing smart chips for AI, are having difficulty maintaining the same level of quality “They are therefore turning to the market leader to meet their needs. Nvidia’s position is even stronger,” he adds.

AMD left behind

Nvidia’s competitors are indeed struggling to challenge its lead. On Sunday, Jensen Huang said at an event in Taipei that the company would launch its next AI graphics processor architecture, Rubin, in 2026. Which, at least on the stock market, completely overshadowed the announcements from its rival AMD, which presented new chips the next day intended to compete with Nvidia products.

A few weeks ago, the group had already presented a new generation of graphics processors from Nvidia based on the so-called “Blackwell” architecture.

“For six months the balance has gone in Nvidia’s direction. AMD had caught up with them in December and in March they took a year or even two years ahead” with Blackwell, which is “essential in terms of strategic positioning”, explained May 17 Jean-Edwin Rhea, fund manager at Quadrille Capital, on News Bulletin 247.

On Monday, Bank of America, according to investing.com, further raised its price target on Nvidia shares to $1,500, which gives the stock a potential of 21%. Assuming Nvidia achieves this goal, the company would be worth $3.643 billion.