Jensen Huang was not in the official Computex 2024 program, but he was not needed. The Nvidia billionaire led an unprecedented cast of tech stars at the world’s largest computing conference, held this week in Taiwan, where he effortlessly outshone big names.
From filling a 4,000-seat sports stadium to strolling through paparazzi-filled night markets, the leather-jacket-clad CEO and his nearly $3 billion company attracted the largest audiences and best entourages.
Nvidia rode a $315 billion stock rally over the past three days. Even on Thursday it surpassed the US$3 billion line, surpassing Apple (although during the day, the apple company returned to that level).
The rally in the semiconductor company’s shares maintains its highest levels in history and in fact Huang entered the 15 richest men in the world, reaching number 13 in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index to the centibillionaire club with US$107 billion. The Taiwanese entrepreneur even appears to surpass figures such as the Indian tycoon Gautam Adani or the Mexican businessman Carlos Slim.
New Big Tech
Microsoft, Nvidia and Apple are now worth more together than the Chinese stock market. He puts them as the new Big Tech of the global industry.
With a total market capitalization of around US$9.2 trillion, The three most valuable tech companies have surpassed all stocks worth almost $9 trillion that are actively traded on Chinese exchanges, excluding Hong Kong, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Investor demand for exposure to artificial intelligence has driven many stocks in the sector to all-time highs. Nvidia, arguably the biggest beneficiary of a massive avalanche of AI spending over the past year, became the first chip organization to reach such significant levels.
“Those seeking momentum and growth will be content to rely on Microsoft, Apple and Nvidia because of their powerful competitive positions, wide profit margins and strong balance sheets,” said Russ Mold, chief investment officer at AJ Bell. “The danger here is confusing reliability with security, because a very high valuation can leave a stock’s price exposed to the downside if expectations are too high and something unexpected happens,” Mold said.
The Santa Clara, California-based company has dominated the market with its highly sought-after products that help power data centers that execute complex AI computing tasks. Meanwhile, Microsoft has invested in OpenAI and is incorporating AI features into its products and services.
“Someone coined the term ‘Jensanity,’ and that’s exactly what it has been,” said Dan Nystedt, an analyst at TriOrient Investments. However, observers who navigate beyond Nvidia’s (very large) wake can detect trends that, over time, could determine the direction in which AI evolves around the world. This year, “AI PCs” have proliferated in the cavernous showrooms; hitherto unknown Taiwanese names have become stars.
