On Tuesday, that run culminated in Nvidia unseating Microsoft Corp. as the world’s most valuable company with a market capitalization of $3.34 trillion. Long-time investors in Nvidia have had to stomach three annual collapses of 50% or more in the stock. Nvidia’s GeForce graphics processing units, or GPUs, became objects of desire among gamers because they consistently offered the most realistic experience. Eventually, interest in ChatGPT and other generative AI products exploded, triggering a frantic surge in orders for Nvidia’s chips. Nvidia’s data-center sales eclipsed its gaming revenue for the first time in fiscal 2023.
