Nvidia Corp, whose Tainan-born CEO is today to speak at the informal opening of Computex Taipei, could soon surpass Apple Inc to become the world’s second-most valuable company, as the biggest beneficiary of the surge in adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) applications takes on the iPhone maker that has been the largest Wall Street firm by market value for years.
The reliance of virtually all AI applications such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT on Nvidia’s high-end chips has helped the stock nearly triple in value over the past year to US$2.68 trillion.
In contrast, Apple ceded its No. 1 spot to Microsoft Corp earlier this year as the once high-flying company grapples with weak demand for its iPhones and tough competition in China. It was last valued at US$2.92 trillion.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
“It is certainly notable because Apple has been so dominant for so long, especially on the growth and innovation front. Recently though, Apple’s innovation curve seems to have flattened, showing slower future growth,” Zacks Investment Management client portfolio manager Brian Mulberry said. “On the other hand, Nvidia has been able to catch wave upon wave of growth. Beginning with gaming demand, then crypto and now AI, they have been able to perfectly match innovation with demand and that equals explosive growth.”
The semiconductor company is heavily weighted on the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ and has been pivotal in driving US stocks to record highs. It accounted for more than one-third of the S&P 500’s gains this year.
Nvidia also became the fastest company to grow from US$1 trillion to US$2 trillion this year, zooming past Amazon.com Inc, Google-parent Alphabet Inc and Saudi Aramco.
Since its blowout forecast about a year ago, the company has consistently breezed past Wall Street’s lofty expectations for revenue and profit, with demand for its graphic processors far outstripping supply as Big Tech rushes to embed AI applications.
Sharp increases in analysts’ earnings estimates have resulted in a fall in the stock’s forward earnings valuation, even with the share price racing higher.
It traded at 37 times forward earnings, compared with 48 times earnings a year ago, LSEG Data and Analytics data showed.
Meanwhile, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) is today to speak at the informal opening of Computex Taipei, inaugurating what would be the biggest-ever iteration of Taiwan’s annual electronics showcase event.
His arrival in Taipei, a week ahead of Computex, was greeted with the usual excitement about the homegrown rock star executive.
Huang frequently visits the nation, and this year he would be accompanied by the bosses of almost all the major US chip firms as they race to close the gap on Nvidia in the AI product race.
Fellow Tainan-born executive Lisa Su (蘇姿丰), CEO and chairwoman of Advanced Micro Devices Inc, is to host a keynote at Computex, while Intel Corp CEO Pat Gelsinger, Qualcomm Inc CEO Cristiano Amon and Arm Holdings PLC CEO Rene Haas are all scheduled to speak at the conference, which runs from Tuesday to Friday.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
A subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based company that has lost control of two critical ports on the Panama Canal said it is seeking US$2 billion of compensation in damages from Panama over its “illegal” takeover of the ports. Panama Ports Co, a unit of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings (長江和記實業), on Friday said in a statement that it is demanding the sum under international arbitration proceedings that it had already started. The Panamanian government last week seized control of the Balboa and Cristobal ports on each end of the Panama Canal, after the country’s Supreme Court declared earlier that a concession allowing
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
RSS