Nvidia Earns 2024’s Biggest Gain in Market Cap Amid AI Boom

The artificial intelligence (AI) boom drove chipmaker Nvidia to become 2024’s biggest global gainer in terms of market capitalization and the world’s second-most valuable listed company.

Nvidia had a market value of $1.2 trillion at the end of 2023 and $3.28 trillion at the end of 2024, Reuters reported Thursday (Jan. 2), attributing the surge in value to demand for the company’s AI chips.

Apple continued to be the world leader in market value, according to the report. Apple neared a $4 trillion valuation as investors anticipated the company benefiting from its AI enhancements.

Rounding out the top five companies in market value in 2024 were Microsoft at $3.1 trillion, Alphabet at about $2.3 trillion, and Amazon, also at about $2.3 trillion, per the report.

The AI boom has fueled explosive growth in the tech industry, with companies from chip manufacturers to security startups reporting soaring revenues and attracting significant investment, PYMNTS reported in October.

In December, HSBC Innovation Banking said venture capital in the United States has moved to AI companies at an “unprecedented” rate, with the scale of capital invested in these companies by U.S. venture investors approaching that allocated to the rest of the venture market.

“Venture capital has always gravitated toward transformative industries, but the level of consolidation we’re seeing within one category is unprecedented,” HSBC U.S. Innovation Banking Head Dave Sabow said in a Dec. 16 press release.

As for Nvidia, the company advanced its grip on the AI market in 2024 with new hardware and tools. Nvidia’s moves during the year included the launch of its Blackwell B100 and B200 GPUs that boosted generative AI capabilities and cemented the company’s lead in high-performance computing; the introduction of the $249 Jetson Orin Nano Super Developer Kit that opened AI development to smaller players; and the formation of a growing number of partnerships across key sectors.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in November that the trends seen among AI services are “really just beginning.”

“We expect this to happen, this growth, this modernization and the creation of a new industry to go on for several years,” Huang said.