Nvidia value surges past $3tn and overtakes Apple

Nvidia's market value has surged past $3tn (£2.3tn), lifting the chip giant ahead of Apple to become the second most valuable publicly listed company in the world.The firm's share price rose more than 5% on Wednesday, to more than $1,224.It extended a breathtakingly rapid climb that started last year, powered by bets that the US firm is positioned to be a major winner from a wave of investment in artificial intelligence (AI).Its market value now sits just behind Microsoft, another key player in the industry thanks to its investments in Chat GPT-maker OpenAI.Valued at "just" $2tn as recently as February, Nvidia sparked a new wave of share purchases after it announced plans last month for a so-called stock split.The move will increase the number of shares by a factor of 10 and reduce their value accordingly, a change aimed at making shares more affordable to small-time investors.Set to happen on Friday, it is expected to generate even more demand for the stock.His company has seen explosive growth, reporting sales of $26bn in the three months to 28 April - more than triple the same period in 2023, and up 18% from the previous three month.
Shares in the firm rose 0.7%, giving it a market capitalisation of roughly $3tn, which is generally calculated by multiplying the number of shares in a company by its current share price.