Nvidia set to overtake Amazon in market value for first time

Nvidia to overtake Amazon: Wall Street's growing interest in artificial intelligence has propelled Nvidia to the brink of surpassing Amazon in market value for the first time in two decades, with the AI chipmaker also closely trailing behind Google-owner Alphabet.

Nvidia's stock has surged by 40 per cent so far in 2024, pushing its market capitalisation to $1.715 trillion as of mid-day trading on Wednesday. This places it just 3 per cent below Amazon's $1.767 trillion valuation and less than 6 per cent below Alphabet's $1.812 trillion value, according to LSEG data.

Following an optimistic report from Morgan Stanley, Nvidia's shares rose by 1.8 per cent to $694.48. Analyst Joseph Moore, in a client note, raised the price target to $750 from $603, citing the continued surge in demand for AI.

Having tripled in value in 2023, Nvidia has ascended to become the fifth most valuable company in the US stock market. The company has significantly benefited from the race among technology firms to integrate AI into their products and services, with major players like Meta Platforms (META.O) investing billions in Nvidia's graphics processors.

AI developers are facing considerable wait times to access Nvidia's processors through cloud-computing providers, although these wait times are gradually decreasing, according to Morgan Stanley's Moore.

This resurgence places Nvidia ahead of Amazon for the first time since 2002 when both companies were valued at under $6 billion.

Microsoft recently surpassed Apple in January to become the world's most valuable company. Following these leaders, among the world's most valuable publicly-listed companies are state oil giant Saudi Aramco, Alphabet, and Amazon.

Saudi Aramco boasts a $2 trillion market capitalisation, making it the third most valuable publicly listed company globally. However, the majority of the company is government-owned, with less than 2 per cent of its shares available for trading by investors, as per LSEG data.

(With Reuters inputs)