NVIDIA's market cap surges above $3 trillion, approaching top of S&P 500

Microsoft Corp.'s nearly five-month reign over Apple Inc. as the largest public company by market capitalization on the S&P 500 could be short-lived as NVIDIA Corp.'s market value has surged by $2 trillion, roughly tripling in value, over the past year.

NVIDIA overtook Apple on June 5 as its market cap climbed above $3 trillion for the first time, while Microsoft remains the S&P 500's top stock by market cap with $3.151 trillion, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. As of June 5, NVIDIA's market cap was $3.009 trillion, about $5.5 billion above Apple.

NVIDIA's market cap has increased by about 211% over the past year, while Microsoft's has increased by about 26% and Apple's by about 6%.

Trading top spots

Apple became the world's first $3 trillion company in July 2023. Microsoft overtook Apple in late January as its market cap crossed the $3 trillion threshold for the first time.

Microsoft was last the S&P 500's top-valued stock at the end of 2018 when its market cap was just over $785 billion. It had been the top company by market cap in 1998, 1999 and 2022 before that.

Market caps balloon

With three stocks with market caps over $3 trillion, market capitalization has escalated quickly.

In 2019, when Apple overtook Microsoft as the top stock, its market cap ended that year at less than $1.305 trillion.

In 1989, when Exxon Mobil Corp. overtook International Business Machines Corp. as the S&P 500's top stock by market cap, the oil major's market cap was less than $66.6 billion.

Over the past five years, the market cap of the S&P 500's largest six stocks has increased by over $10.5 trillion, with Microsoft, Apple and NVIDIA gaining a combined roughly $7.274 trillion.