During the past week, Jensen Huang, CEO and co-founder of Nvidia, experienced considerable success as the company’s shares rose to $141.54 by Friday, marking an increase of 2.6% for the week and a 16.6% growth for October. The shares have surged 186% in 2024. Nvidia entered into an agreement to supply its chips to tech firms in India. By the week’s end, Nvidia’s market capitalization reached $3.47 trillion, placing it narrowly behind Apple’s valuation of $3.52 trillion. At one point on Friday, Nvidia’s market cap briefly surpassed Apple’s, hitting $3.53 trillion before closing at $3.47 trillion. This marked the second time in 2024 that Nvidia held the top position, having achieved it earlier in June before experiencing a drop.
Nvidia is set to play a significant role in the upcoming earnings announcements from major tech companies like Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Apple, and Amazon, all reporting this week. Tesla reported its earnings the previous week, while Nvidia is expected to announce its earnings on November 20. A pressing topic for these companies will likely be their expenditure on artificial intelligence technology and whether they possess the necessary advanced technology.
Nvidia’s Blackwell chips have become highly sought after, with the company reportedly fulfilling 80% to 85% of the graphic processing units needed for AI. These chips will soon be integral components of new AI servers by Dell Technologies, set to ship in November and become more widely available in early 2025. Production delays of the Blackwell chips have been resolved, and next year’s output is already fully pre-sold.
The strong demand for Blackwell chips led Oracle’s Executive Chairman, Larry Ellison, and Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, to appeal to Jensen Huang directly. At an analyst meeting, Ellison recounted a dinner with Huang where they urgently requested more GPUs, offering substantial financial incentives. Ellison believes their efforts were successful. Adria Cimino of The Motley Fool analyzed the situation, predicting substantial ongoing growth for Nvidia due to high demand and minimal immediate competition.