In a landmark moment for the tech industry, Nvidia Corp. appeared ready to claim the title of the world’s most valuable company on Thursday. The AI chip manufacturer’s market cap soared to $3.92 trillion, surpassing the record once held by Apple.

Nvidia’s stock climbed by 2.2% in early morning trading, reaching $160.60 per share. This pushed the California-based company ahead of Apple’s December 2024 high of $3.915 trillion in market value. It also placed Nvidia slightly above Microsoft, whose valuation stood at $3.7 trillion after a 1.5% gain.

The meteoric rise of Nvidia stems from its dominance in AI-driven semiconductors, which are at the core of training powerful generative AI systems like GPT-4 and beyond. Big Tech firms such as Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta are heavily investing in AI infrastructure, sending demand for Nvidia’s chips soaring.

Trading experts say this surge represents a seismic shift. “The move from $1 trillion to $4 trillion in just a few years reflects the intensity of AI investment,” said Joe Saluzzi of Themis Trading.

Since 2021, Nvidia’s market value has increased nearly eight-fold, growing from $500 billion. It is now more valuable than entire national stock exchanges, including the U.K., Canada, and Mexico combined, according to LSEG.

Despite the steep valuation, Nvidia is still trading at around 32x forward earnings, lower than its five-year average of 41x, a sign that analysts see ongoing growth potential. The rebound from April lows also reflects renewed investor confidence as geopolitical trade tensions ease.

As Wall Street’s AI darling, Nvidia’s role in shaping the next decade of computing is just beginning.