Nvidia Was Once 30 Days Away From Going Out of Business. Here's Why It Just Overtook Apple to Become the World's Biggest Company.

Nvidia passed Apple connected Tuesday to declare the apical spot arsenic the biggest institution successful the world pinch a marketplace headdress of $3.43 trillion to Apple's $3.38 trillion.

At the clip of writing, Nvidia had a marketplace headdress of $3.584 trillion, higher than Apple's $3.389 trillion and Microsoft's $3.102 trillion. Apple and Microsoft are presently successful 2nd and 3rd place.

According to Bloomberg, Nvidia's marketplace headdress rising supra Apple's shows that AI has go "dominant" connected Wall Street. The move besides shows that investors expect the AI roar to continue. Nvidia counts the biggest tech companies arsenic its clients, including Meta, Microsoft, and Google.

Related: '100% Nvidia's Fault': CEO Jensen Huang Says the Company's AI Chip With 'Insane' Demand Had a Crucial Design Flaw

It's the 2nd clip this twelvemonth that Nvidia has go the world's astir valuable company. The first was connected June 18 erstwhile Nvidia's marketplace headdress deed $3.34 trillion — though within a week, the AI chipmaker was down to 3rd place, down Microsoft and Apple.

Why Did Nvidia Almost Go Out of Business?

The milestone of this marketplace headdress highest represents the agelong measurement that Nvidia has travel from its early days.

Nvidia was founded successful 1993, and, by 1996 was connected the brink of going retired of business. The company's CEO and co-founder Jensen Huang said location was a 50-50 chance the business would past the play and fto spell of half its staff.

The turning point, and the infinitesimal of Nvidia's continued survival, was the Riva 128 graphics spot the institution released successful April 1997. The spot put Nvidia "back connected the map," generating gross for the institution that they put backmost into R&D, which helped "establish Nvidia arsenic a leader successful machine graphics," according to the IEEE Computer Society.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Photo by MADS CLAUS RASMUSSEN/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images

Though Nvidia endured aft all, Huang ne'er forgot the tumultuous period—and he ne'er fto his labor hide it, either.

He has started galore presentations with the words, "Our institution is 30 days from going retired of business."

Nvidia shares person grown complete 200% year-to-date and complete 2,700% successful the past 5 years.

Related: 'Everybody Wants to Be First': Nvidia CEO Says Demand for Its Blackwell AI Chip Is 'Insane'