- Chip firm’s market cap hits $3.45 trillion
- Surging demand for GPUs crucial for AI applications
- Nvidia stock averaged 86.8% annual gain over five years
AI chip champion Nvidia (NVDA:NASDAQ) has regained the top spot as the world’s most valuable company after a 5% turnaround versus Apple (AAPL:NASDAQ) overnight.
Nvidia shares closed the session on Tuesday (21 January) up 2.3% at $140.83 for a $3,449 billion market capitalisation, surpassing Apple’s $3,348 billion in the wake of the iPhone maker’s 3.2% overnight decline. Apple shares closed at $222.64.
CRITICAL AI COMPONENTS
The surge in demand for Nvidia’s GPUs (graphics processing units), crucial for AI applications, has driven its success. Nvidia’s Q3 2025 results (to end October 2024) saw earnings double to $0.81 per share and showed 94% revenue growth at a record $35.1 billion, demonstrating its key role in AI transformations across industries.
Shares told readers to buy Nvidia in November 2021
Nvidia’s GPUs are unmatched in their ability to produce processors that power AI systems, including those that drive generative AI, the technology behind OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and a host of other AI-powered chatbots.
INCREDIBLE RETURNS
The company’s stock has been on a remarkable run, up 136% over the past year and more than 500% higher over the past three. The three- and five-year annualised return stands at 82% and 86.8% respectively, based on Morningstar data, compared to the Nasdaq’s 13.7% and 17%.
By contrast, Apple stock has been soggy for a while, up just 16.7% over the past year versus Nasdaq’s 30% gain, on a total return basis, and it has also underperformed Nasdaq over three years, with an average yearly total return of 11.6%.
