US$330-billion in stock market value on Wednesday, a record one-day gain for any company on Wall Street, after Microsoft and AMD reignited the AI rally.
Also lifting Nvidia and other chip makers, AMD ratcheted up its 2024 forecast for its AI chip sales. Microsoft fell 1.1%.“Microsoft reported some deceleration in its core cloud business, but a huge increase in capex. That represents a transfer of wealth from Microsoft shareholders to Nvidia shareholders,”Nvidia’s surge in stock market value shattered Wall Street’s previous record, which Nvidia also set on 22 February with a $277-billion gain.
“Since Microsoft makes up approximately 20% of demand for Nvidia’s highest-quality AI chips, increasing capex spend at Microsoft is good news for Nvidia’s bottom line,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB. Its capital expenditure, including finance leases, surged 78% in the quarter to $19-billion, with Microsoft saying it needs to expand its global network of data centres and overcome capacity constraints to meet AI demand.