Top line
Chip stocks jumped in out-of-hours trading on Wednesday, as chipmaking giant Nvidia continued Tuesday’s market rally that saw it unseat Microsoft as the world’s most valuable public company and boost CEO Jensen Huang’s net worth.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s net worth has risen along with the company’s market capitalization.
Key facts
Nvidia shares rose about 0.6% to more than $136 during off-hours trading on Wednesday morning, when major U.S. markets are closed to observe Juneteenth.
The rise comes after Nvidia stock hit an all-time high on Tuesday, trading at $135.58 at market close, a jump of more than 3.5%.
Shares of other chip stocks also rose overnight alongside Nvidia’s rise, especially in Asia, where some of the world’s largest technology manufacturers are based, including some of Nvidia’s biggest rivals.
Shares of chip competitors such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, TSMCanother big beneficiary of the AI boom, rose more than 4% at the market close in Taipei, with shares of Hong Kong-listed Chinese manufacturers Hua Hong Semiconductor and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp also rising 0.4% and 1%.
Shares of South Korean chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix respectively jumped as much as 3% and 7% during trading hours, though gains eased as the day progressed and were up 1.75% and down 0.43% respectively at the market close in Seoul.
Shares of the US chipmaking giants remained largely flat during out-of-hours trading on Wednesday, with shares of Arm Holdings (ARM) and Micron Technology (MU), which were up nearly 9% and 4% on Tuesday, rising a modest 0.34%. and 0.81%, respectively. Intel, which fell by more than 1% on Tuesday, was relatively unaffected.
the shadow
Shares of Hon Hai Technology Group, widely known as Foxconn, also jumped after Nvidia rose. Shares listed in Taipei closed more than 2% higher at market close on Wednesday. The Taiwanese giant has a partner With Nvidia to build a specialized group of AI data centers using the US giant’s chips to develop a variety of AI applications including robotics platforms, electric vehicles and large language models (LLMs).
How fast is Nvidia growing from a gaming chip maker to an AI giant?
Nvidia on Tuesday was named the world’s most valuable public company, overtaking tech giant Microsoft just weeks after snatching second place from iPhone maker Apple. The achievement caps Nvidia’s rise from a respected maker of video game hardware to a provider of one of tech’s hottest commodities: specialized artificial intelligence chips. This pivot has seen Nvidia’s fortunes turn around in a matter of years, as it has grown from Market value From about $16 billion in 2016 to just under $800 billion by the end of 2021 before falling to about $300 billion in 2022 amid… Demand is weak For gaming chips and a broader rout in US stock markets. The boom in generative AI, which began with the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in late 2022, has helped propel Nvidia to new heights as demand for specialized AI chips soars. Since then, the company’s value has more than doubled from about $400 billion in late 2022 to $1 trillion by mid-2023, $2 trillion by early 2024, and $3 trillion by mid-2024 on a near-vertical rise. Nvidia shares have risen more than 170% this year alone, and its explosive growth shows little sign of stopping, as technology companies compete to dominate the emerging artificial intelligence market.
Forbes rating
The AI boom has not only catapulted Nvidia into a rare position of wealth and power. CEO Jensen Huang, who co-founded the chipmaker in 1993, has also seen his wealth grow astronomically in recent years. Following the recent surge in Nvidia stock, Forbes estimates Huang is worth $118.7 billion, up $4 billion on Tuesday alone. He now ranks eleventh on the list of the richest people in the world, ahead of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, and approximately $12 billion short of entering the Forbes ranking of the ten richest people in the world. He comes behind Microsoft billionaires Steve Ballmer, who owns the Los Angeles Clippers, and Bill Gates, respectively, with a value of $130.6 billion and $133.5 billion.
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