(Reuters) – NVIDIA Corp experienced a record-breaking surge in market value in January, the largest monthly increase ever, driven by heightened optimism around artificial intelligence (AI), positive analyst projections, and the company’s announcement of expanded AI offerings.
The world’s most valuable chipmaker saw its market value expand by an unprecedented $296.52 billion to about $1.52 trillion, surpassing its previous high of $248.23 billion in gains seen in May 2023.
Last month, Nvidia’s stock climbed to new heights following the announcement of new desktop graphics processors and advancements in AI-related components and software.
Meanwhile, Microsoft, the world’s most valuable company, also enjoyed a robust increase in market value, adding $159.36 billion, largely attributed to the rising demand for its Azure cloud service.
The tech giant on Tuesday, reported higher than estimated quarterly profit and revenue, although investors turned cautious about its rising costs that are expected to “increase materially” on a sequential basis.
As of Wednesday, Microsoft’s market value stood at $2.95 trillion, outstripping Apple Inc’s $2.85 trillion in market capital.
Meanwhile, Meta Platforms saw a strengthening in its market value last month, crossing back over the $1 trillion mark for the first time since September 2021.
Meta’s stock surged over 14% to a record high $451 after the bell on Thursday, elevating its market capitalization by $148 billion to $1.16 trillion after the Facebook owner delivered a 25% jump in revenue to $40.1 billion for the December quarter and declared its first-ever dividend.
On the other end of the spectrum, Tesla Inc emerged as the weakest performer among the top 20 global companies by market cap, losing about 24.5% of its value over the last month due to concerns over slowing growth. CEO Elon Musk has cautioned that sales growth would be “notably lower” this year despite recent price reductions.
Additonally, Saudi Arabian Oil Co saw a 7.3% fall in its market value.
(Reporting By Patturaja Murugaboopathy and Gaurav Dogra in Bengaluru; Editing by Stephen Coates)