Nvidia

has become the

world’s most valuable company

, overtaking Microsoft, as demand for its

AI chips

continues to soar. Nvidia's market value rose to $3.34 trillion this week, making it worth more than

Microsoft

at $3.32 trillion and Apple at $3.29 trillion. Fueled by growing interest in artificial intelligence technologies, the chipmaker’s stock has gained over 170% this year and more than tripled in value over the past 12 months.

Nvidia's rise has been driven by its dominant position in providing chips used in AI systems, including those that power tools like ChatGPT. Its graphics processing units (GPUs) are a key component for training and running large language models.Nvidia CEO

Jensen Huang

has often emphasized the AI revolution. Speaking during the company’s earnings report, Huang said “The next industrial revolution has begun — companies and countries are partnering with Nvidia to shift the trillion-dollar traditional data centers to accelerated computing and build a new type of data center — AI factories — to produce a new commodity: artificial intelligence”.

Nvidia, Microsoft, and Apple are competing to be the world’s most valuable company. Microsoft had long held the top spot among the world’s most valuable companies, with Apple briefly overtaking it earlier this year. Nvidia’s climb to the top marks a major moment for the chip industry, traditionally seen as a lower-margin hardware sector compared to software and services. While Nvidia’s revenue is still much lower than Microsoft’s or Apple’s — it reported $26 billion in its latest quarter compared to Microsoft’s $62 billion — investors are betting big on future growth.What’s nextAccording to experts, Nvidia’s current valuation reflects high expectations for AI development and adoption. The company continues to launch new chips, including its Blackwell line expected later this year, which could further cement its market dominance.Whether Nvidia can maintain the top spot depends on continued strong demand and its ability to fend off competition from companies like AMD, Intel, and even its customers like Google and Amazon, which are building their own chips. As of now, Nvidia’s success shows how the center of gravity in the tech world is shifting — from software to silicon.