\n<\/p>\n
Nvidia has handed back the position as the world\u2019s most valuable company to Microsoft after its share price fell by more than 3.5% on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant briefly held the top spot<\/a> from Tuesday, with a stock market valuation of $3.34tn (\u00a32.64tn).<\/p>\n But Nvidia’s shares fell to $130.78 on Thursday, sending its value down to around $3.22tn, with Microsoft reclaiming the title as it held steady at more than $3.3tn.<\/p>\n Nvidia’s rise has been fuelled by its dominance of what analysts call the “new gold or oil in the tech sector” – the chips that power AI.<\/p>\n Nvidia, Microsoft and Apple – each worth more than $3tn – are in a three-horse race to be the world’s most valuable company.<\/p>\n While Nvidia reached the top spot for just a brief period, some analysts have predicted competition between the three technology firms will remain fierce.<\/p>\n “We believe over the next year the race to $4 trillion market cap in tech will be front and centre between Nvidia, Apple, and Microsoft,” Wedbush Securities said in a note earlier this week.<\/p>\n Nvidia’s stock has boomed thanks to growing demand for chips that train and run generative AI models, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT.<\/p>\n The firm also benefitted significantly from a rush to mine Bitcoin in 2020, which saw a jump in sales of its graphics cards.<\/p>\n Its rise as been mirrored by the growing profile of its boss, Jensen Huang, who has become well-known thanks in part to his popularity in his native Taiwan<\/a>, where fans treat him like a rock star.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n