Nvidia leaps Aramco to be world’s third most-valuable company

NVIDIA has claimed another milestone by overtaking Saudi Aramco in market value, making the chipmaker the world’s third-most valuable public company after Apple and Microsoft.

The company ended Friday’s (Mar 1) session at US$2.06 trillion, closing above the US$2 trillion mark for the first time. Meanwhile, Aramco’s value dipped to US$2.03 trillion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Nvidia shares have skyrocketed on the back of blowout earnings that reaffirmed Wall Street’s optimism on the potential for artificial intelligence to reshape the technology industry. The company dominates the market for graphics chips designed for complex computing tasks needed to power AI applications that companies are rushing to develop.

The rally has been relentless this year. The stock has climbed about 66 per cent and added some US$834 billion in value. The stock rose as much as 1.8 per cent in premarket trading on Monday.

Meanwhile, Aramco has dropped over 5 per cent this year, with lower production as a result of Opec+ cuts and a potential follow-on offering by the Saudi government weighing on the shares.