Microchip giant Nvidia (NVDA) is again the world’s most valuable publicly traded company, having finished trading on Nov. 5 with a market capitalization of $3.43 trillion U.S.
Nvidia has surpassed consumer electronics company Apple (AAPL) in terms of market cap to become the most valuable publicly traded company.
Nvidia achieved the milestone as its stock rose 3% and closed at $139.91 U.S. per share. Apple currently has a market cap of $3.38 trillion U.S.
This is not the first time that Nvidia has leapfrogged Apple to become the world’s most valuable company.
Nvidia was briefly the biggest public company in June shortly after its stock split on a 10-for-1 basis. However, a summer decline in the company’s share price lowered its market cap.
Another technology giant, Microsoft (MSFT), is now the third largest publicly traded company with a market cap of $3.06 trillion U.S.
Nvidia’s market capitalization has swelled as its share price has nearly tripled this year. The stock is now up more than 2,500% in the past five years.
The company is benefitting from red hot sales of its graphics processing units, or GPUs, that power artificial intelligence (AI) models.
Nvidia’s revenue has more than doubled in each of the last five quarters. The company next reports quarterly financial results on Nov. 20.
In recent days, Nvidia’s stock has been rising on news that it is replacing rival chipmaker Intel (INTC) in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Inclusion in the Dow is positive for Nvidia as mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that track the index will be required to buy its stock.