Nvidia becomes world's most valuable publicly traded company

June 18 (UPI) -- AI-related earnings enabled Santa Clara, Calif.-based chip-maker Nvidia to surpass Microsoft as the world's most valuable publicly traded company Tuesday.

Nvidia shares grew in value by 3.2% during midday trading Tuesday, which raised its market capitalization to $3.33 trillion.

Nvidia shares traded for $135.04 each shortly after 1 p.m., which is a 3.18% gain.

Microsoft shares declined slightly by about 0.5% at $445.96 during midday trading, which lowered its market capitalization to $3.31 trillion.

Nvidia's value growth coincided with the recent launch of the free artificial intelligence app ChatGPT.

The chip-maker produces about 80% of the chips used by data centers as artificial intelligence continues growing in use.

Nvidia's business with data centers rose by 427% over the past year to $22.6 billion.

Data centers account for 86% of Nvidia's business sales.

Nvidia's share prices rose steadily during 2024 and posted a 172% gain during the fiscal year's first quarter.

The chip-maker accrued $26 billion in revenues during the quarter, which is a 262% gain from a year earlier.

Nvidia, Microsoft and Apple, which had $3.28 in market capitalization, are the only publicly traded companies worth more than $3 trillion.

Nvidia surpassed Apple in value earlier in June as it reached the $3 trillion level for the first time.