AI frenzy puts Nvidia briefly ahead of Amazon in market value

Nvidia briefly surpassed Amazon.com Inc in market capitalization on Monday, as the euphoria around artificial intelligence catapulted the chipmaker to the fourth most valuable US company.

At a record high of $734.96, Nvidia was worth $1.82 trillion in market value, compared to $1.81 trillion for retail giant Amazon.com and a few billions away from Google-owner Alphabet's $1.87 trillion, according to LSEG data.

The last time Nvidia was more valuable than Amazon was in 2002, when they were each worth under $6 billion.

After Amazon's higher-than-expected holiday quartersales last month, investors are looking to Nvidia's quarterly results on Feb. 21, the last of the megacap firms to report this earnings season.

Expectations have run high heading into the report with shares gaining 47% year-to-date, making it the biggest gainer among S&P 500 components.

Blowout quarterly results and strong forecasts from Nvidia a year ago established that the chip designer was at pole position in supplying to tech companies working on so-called generative AI like chatbots and image creation.

The bet on strong AI demand has supercharged Nvidia shares, making it the best performing stock among the so-called "Magnificent Seven" with a 223% surge over the past 12 months. Meta Platforms is second with a 163% rise.

Microsoft in January overtook Apple to become the world's most valuable company, with Alphabet at the third spot.