KUALA LUMPUR – American chipmaker Nvidia has once again emerged as the world’s most valuable company after its shares climbed 4.33% on Wednesday to a record closing price of US$154.31, propelling its market capitalisation to US$3.77 trillion.
The latest rally allowed Nvidia to overtake Microsoft, whose valuation stood at US$3.65 trillion, regaining a position it has alternated with both Microsoft and Apple over the past year.
Nvidia, headquartered in Santa Clara, California, is a dominant force in the graphics processing unit (GPU) industry, which plays a pivotal role in powering artificial intelligence (AI) systems and large language models.
The company’s stock surge comes despite regulatory headwinds, including a US export ban affecting its business in China.
Earlier this year, the administration under President Donald Trump imposed stricter export controls, blocking the sale of Nvidia’s H20 AI chip to China.
The chip had been specifically designed to meet previous restrictions. Following the new ban, Nvidia wrote down US$4.5 billion in inventory and forecasted potential losses of up to US$8 billion in sales, removing future revenue from China from its projections.
Nevertheless, Nvidia delivered a strong set of earnings in May, buoyed by a 69% year-on-year increase in overall revenue and a 73% jump in its data centre segment.
Investor confidence received a further boost after Loop Capital raised its target price for Nvidia to US$250 from US$175, citing a coming “Golden Wave” of generative AI demand.
“Our work suggests we are entering the next ‘Golden Wave’ of Gen AI adoption and NVDA is at the front-end of another material leg of stronger than anticipated demand,” said analyst Ananda Baruah in a client note, as quoted by Reuters.
Market watchers see Nvidia’s recent gains as a continuation of the broader AI-driven rally that has energised technology stocks in recent years.
The company’s shares are now trading at around 30 times projected earnings over the next 12 months—below its five-year average of about 40—indicating that earnings growth continues to keep pace with the stock’s rapid ascent.
Since its April 4 low—when the market reacted to fresh US tariff announcements—Nvidia’s share price has surged more than 60%. Meanwhile, the broader S&P 500 technology sector index reached a record high on Wednesday, up 0.9% and registering a nearly 6% gain for 2025 so far. – June 26, 2025