It seems Apple now has a new competitor nipping at its heels in the race to be the world’s most valuable company. Nvidia, the global chip giant, has overtaken Microsoft to claim second place in market capitalization. With this impressive leap, Nvidia is now right behind phone maker Apple.

As of today, Apple holds a commanding lead with a market capitalization of $3.52 trillion. However, the market value of Nvidia, whose shares recently gained 2.4%, has reached $3.31 trillion. Meanwhile, Microsoft, lagging slightly in this high-stakes race, stands at $3.12 trillion. These are astronomical figures, but the competition is far from over.

Microsoft, once the darling of investors, appears to have lost some of its luster. Although the company's stock is up 14% this year, the enthusiasm for artificial intelligence has cooled, with investors now eyeing other avenues. Nvidia also saw some of that pullback, but unlike its rivals, the new AI champion has held firm in its pursuit of the trillion-dollar crown.

Notably, Nvidia crossed the $2 trillion market cap threshold for the first time only in February 2024. At the end of June, its value soared to $3.46 trillion, notching a threefold increase in just a year. Of course, the road to success has not been easy. Nvidia has faced challenges, with antitrust concerns from US regulators looming this summer and a sharp drop in stock prices in September. Still, the chipmaker remains on an upward trajectory, with its stock nearly tripling in value since the start of 2024.

The company's meteoric rise began in late 2022 when OpenAI, now a major partner of Nvidia, unleashed ChatGPT, igniting a frenzy around generative AI. Today, Nvidia is blazing down the technology highway at full speed, leaving its competitors in the dust.