What is the most valuable tech company in the world?

The global tech landscape has long been dominated by giants like Apple, Microsoft, and Google. 

But in July 2025, a new leader emerged: Nvidia, the US-based chipmaker powering the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution.

After a two-year frenzy among investors, Nvidia’s market value crossed the historic $4 trillion mark, making it the most valuable public company in the world.

Nvidia surpasses Apple and Microsoft

Nvidia’s meteoric rise has reshaped the global tech hierarchy. The company’s shares, once hovering around $14 in early 2023, now trade above $160, a staggering climb that pushed its market cap ahead of Microsoft and Apple.

While Apple and Microsoft still dominate consumer electronics and cloud software, Nvidia’s AI-focused chips have become the backbone of data centers powering services like ChatGPT, Google Cloud, and Amazon Web Services.

Fueling the AI boom

Nvidia’s quarterly revenue recently surged 69% year-on-year to $44.1 billion, with profits reaching nearly $19 billion despite trade restrictions on sales to China.

Its high-performance graphics processing units (GPUs) are essential for training AI models, making the company a direct beneficiary of the global race to integrate AI into every sector.

Analysts expect global AI infrastructure spending to exceed $200 billion by 2028, a trajectory that ensures Nvidia’s central role.

Why Jensen Huang isn’t the world’s richest man?

Despite Nvidia’s $4 trillion crown, its CEO Jensen Huang ranks only 10th among the world’s richest people.

The reason lies in ownership. Huang controls less than 4% of Nvidia, far smaller than the stakes Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg hold in their companies.

Over the years, Nvidia has issued vast numbers of shares to compensate employees, diluting Huang’s percentage.

As of 2025, the company reported $14 billion in stock-based compensation, much of it yet to be realized.

Nvidia’s dominance highlights a broader truth: the future of technology is being defined not by gadgets or apps, but by AI infrastructure.