The creator of chips for artificial intelligence, Nvidia, following trading on December 29, 2025, became the most valuable publicly traded firm in the world. Its market valuation reached \$4.63 trillion, allowing it to push Apple (\$4.04 trillion) into second place in the global rankings.
The leadership change caps a year of rapid expansion for Nvidia, whose shares soared due to dominance in the graphics processing unit market—essential hardware for AI systems. Alphabet, the parent company of Google (around \$3.8 trillion), completed the top three, displacing Microsoft to the fourth spot.
The ranking, compiled using LSEG data and Reuters calculations, confirms the absolute supremacy of American technology giants in the global economy. The first European company on the list was the Dutch manufacturer of lithography equipment, ASML, with a valuation of \$412 billion, securing only the 24th position.
German firm SAP dropped over the year from 32nd to 44th place (about \$300 billion), yielding to other European leaders such as Switzerland’s Roche (\$340 billion) and Novartis (\$295 billion). Nvidia’s sharp ascent symbolizes a shift from the era of consumer technologies to an epoch where the greatest worth is generated by the infrastructure and “hardware” for artificial intelligence.
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