Nvidia unexpectedly surpasses Microsoft to become the company with the largest capitalization in the world

Nvidia's stock price has continued to rise sharply and shows no signs of stopping, helping Nvidia surpass technology giants like Microsoft and Apple to become the world's largest company by market capitalization. Specifically, the chipmaker's shares rose 3.2% to $135.21, bringing its market capitalization to $3.326 trillion, just days after surpassing iPhone maker Apple to become the second most valuable company.

“It’s a little surprising that they’re definitely a business that needs significant growth, investors have clearly taken that into account,” said Melissa Brown, managing director of applied research at SimCorp. “What I’m concerned about now is how long that growth can be sustained.”

Nvidia is the fastest growing company in terms of stock value in recent years. The company was founded in 1993 and went public in 1999. By July 2017, Nvidia's market capitalization had reached $100 billion for the first time.

Nvidia will hit the $1 trillion market cap mark for the first time in May 2023. Nvidia's market cap surpassed $2 trillion for the first time in February, and on June 6, the company's market cap surpassed $3 trillion for the first time.

So, it took Nvidia 18 years to reach a market capitalization of $100 billion, but it took the company less than a year to increase its market capitalization from $1,000 to $2,000 billion and less than four months to increase from $2,000 to $3,000 billion.

Nvidia’s stunning surge in market value over the past year has become emblematic of Wall Street’s extraordinary volatility, fueled by optimism about emerging AI technology. While Nvidia’s rally has lifted the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to record highs, some investors worry that the over-hyped AI optimism could dissipate if there are signs of slowing spending on the technology.

Nvidia has also become the most traded company on Wall Street, with a recent average daily turnover of $50 billion, compared with about $10 billion for Apple, Microsoft and Tesla. The chipmaker now accounts for about 16% of total trading among S&P 500 companies.