By Shashwat Chauhan
May 5 (Reuters) – Alphabet is on the cusp of overtaking Nvidia as the world’s most valuable company, riding on a record stock rally fueled by its artificial intelligence efforts and booming cloud business.
The potential reshuffling would put the Google parent at the No.1 spot for the first time in more than a decade. It last held that position briefly in February 2016 before Apple reclaimed the spot.
The move reflects a dramatic shift in sentiment as Alphabet emerges as both a major AI services provider with its cloud platform and a key rival to Nvidia in chips through custom processors that have won customers such as Anthropic.
The search giant has stunned Wall Street in recent months with cloud growth that far outpaced expectations and bigger rivals Amazon and Microsoft, giving investors confidence that its hundreds of billions of dollars in AI spending will pay off.
“It’s really about hyperscaler capex spend and, to some degree, early signs of better monetization – particularly from Alphabet – versus the broader AI ‘food chain,’ which includes data centers, grid and power,” said Stephanie Link, chief investment strategist at Hightower Advisors.
Nvidia’s market cap last stood close to $4.79 trillion as of Tuesday morning, well off its all-time highs of around $5.2 trillion, whereas Alphabet was at $4.67 trillion, hovering near its all-time highs.
Here’s a look at how the Wall Street giant has fared as it approaches a historical high:
Revenue of its Google Cloud segment grew 63% in the first quarter, well above what analysts had forecast and the growth rate was the highest since the company began breaking out the segment’s revenue in 2020, according to LSEG data.
“High demand for cloud and AI offerings drove a ‘meaningful acceleration’ in growth, indicating to investors that significant AI investments are paying off,” Jeff Buchbinder, chief equity strategist at LPL Financial said.
Investors think Google is scooping up a large chunk of new computing demand thanks to its AI tools for businesses and powerful custom chips. CEO Sundar Pichai said Google had started selling its AI chips, which compete with Nvidia’s semiconductors, directly to some customers.
Alphabet’s shares have surged about 24% this year, while Nvidia’s shares are up just about 7%.
Nvidia’s stock was knocked off its high after the Wall Street Journal reported last month that OpenAI had missed its goals for new users and revenue.
Valued at about $4.5 trillion as of last close, Alphabet dwarfs the combined value of Germany and Switzerland’s main stock markets. The stock last traded at around 29 times its 12-month forward earnings, above its five-year average of 22 and higher than the S&P 500’s valuation of around 21 times forward earnings. Nvidia’s stood at around 21.
