NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA, ETR:NVD) shares jumped 2.4% to reach a new record closing high on Monday night, valuing the business at $3.39 trillion.
The chipmaker, which capped off a 40% rebound from its recent share price low in early August, closed the gap on Apple’s $3.52 trillion valuation and extended the distance from Microsoft's $3.12 trillion.
It came over a week after the last company-specific news when CEO Jensen Huang said in an interview that demand for the company’s next-generation Blackwell artificial intelligence chip has been "insane".
The Blackwell chip had suffered some delays but was now "in full production" he said.
But this week's gains seemed to be more related to wider economic optimism.
“After seeing a bout of market rotation into defensive stocks over the summer, it seems as if investors are once again feeling brave enough to ratchet up the risk rating in their portfolio and go after more go-go growth names," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
A Federal Reserve interest rate cut is widely expected next month, which analysts think could add some fuel to the momentum in tech stocks.
“More companies are now embracing artificial intelligence in their everyday tasks and demand remains strong for Nvidia chips. It is certainly in a sweet spot and so long as we avoid a big economic downturn in the US, there is a feeling that companies will continue to invest heavily in AI capabilities, creating a healthy tailwind for Nvidia," said Mould.
Quarterly earnings from Nvidia are not due for another month, though analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya at Swissquote Bank said the "good news" for investors in the US chipmaker is that the earnings from Taiwanese chip foundry giant TSMC "will give a first hint on the strength of the upcoming numbers already this week".