Nvidia overtakes Alphabet, one day after eclipsing Amazon

There seems to be no stopping Nvidia Corp.'s scorching rally. The day after surpassing the market value of Amazon.com Inc., the chip giant has now overtaken Alphabet Inc. as well.

Shares of Nvidia rose 2.5% on Wednesday, closing with a market capitalization of about $1.83 trillion, and topping the search giant's value of roughly $1.82 trillion, data compiled by Bloomberg show. With the gain, the chipmaker has become the world's fourth-most valuable company. Saudi Aramco, valued at about $2 trillion, looms as the next milestone.

Photo: Bloomberg

Nvidia's rally has been relentless this year. The stock has climbed about 49% and added some $602 billion in value, boosted by an insatiable demand for its accelerators that power data centers running complex computing tasks required by AI applications.

While other big tech shares have hardly performed badly in 2024, juxtaposed with Nvidia's rally they appear to be relegated to the slow lane. The other mega-cap tech firms have already announced earnings, and Nvidia is slated to report Feb. 21.

"Expecting another strong report, but the bar has been raised," Susquehanna Investment Group analyst Christopher Rolland wrote in a note Wednesday.

Wall Street analysts are seeing signs of continued robust demand for Nvidia's AI H100 accelerators. The chipmaker's sales have been driven by AI spending at its biggest customers, including Microsoft Corp. and Meta Platforms Inc.

Photo: Bloomberg

At least five brokers have hiked price targets for Nvidia this month. Analysts on average have boosted 2024 revenue estimates by more than 100% over the last 12 months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

While the AI frenzy has boosted tech stocks that have been linked to the technology, Nvidia is one of the few firms to have demonstrated significant revenue growth from AI.