(Nov 8): Shares of Nvidia Corp rallied to a record high on Thursday, making the chipmaker the first company in history to surpass a stock market value of US$3.6 trillion (RM15.8 trillion) as Wall Street extended a rally sparked by Donald Trump's return to the White House.

The dominant artificial intelligence (AI) chipmaker's shares rose 2.2%, lifted by broad investor optimism about tax cuts and lower regulations after the Republican candidate's Tuesday election victory.

Nvidia's stock market value ended the day at US$3.65 trillion, beating Apple Inc's record closing market capitalisation of US$3.57 trillion reached on Oct 21, before the chipmaker on Tuesday overtook the iPhone maker as the world's most valuable company, according to LSEG data.

Apple's stock rose 2.1% on Thursday, leaving it with a market value of US$3.44 trillion.

The S&P 500 technology index has surged over 4% in the two sessions since Trump won the election on Tuesday.

Nvidia has been the US stock market's biggest winner from a race between Microsoft Corp, Alphabet Inc, and other heavyweights to build out their AI computing capacity and dominate the emerging technology.

The Silicon Valley chip designer's stock has climbed 12% in November, with its value tripling so far in 2024.

Following this year's surge, Nvidia now exceeds the combined value of Eli Lilly, Walmart, JPMorgan, Visa, UnitedHealth Group, and Netflix.

Analysts on average see Nvidia increasing its quarterly revenue by over 80% to US$32.9 billion when it reports its results on Nov 20, according to LSEG.

In June, Nvidia briefly became the world's most valuable company before it was overtaken by Microsoft and Apple. The tech trio's market capitalisations have been neck-and-neck for several months.

Microsoft's market value stood at nearly US$3.16 trillion, with its stock up 1.25% on Thursday.

Uploaded by Tham Yek Lee