Key Points
The increasing demand for all things artificial intelligence (AI) helped Nvidia emerge out of nowhere to become the world’s largest company as measured by market cap. Between the $4.6 trillion market cap and the continuing growth of the AI accelerator market, few companies hold a realistic chance of overtaking it anytime soon.
Still, few does not mean zero, and competition from companies like Advanced Micro Devices could slow its growth. That could present opportunities for some top companies to claim the world’s largest market cap title. If any company overtakes Nvidia, it will most likely be one of these two enterprises.
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Alphabet
After the release of AI large language model GPT-4 by OpenAI, Google parent Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOG) suffered from a perception it was going to be left behind when it comes to artificial intelligence-related search. Google Search’s market share had fallen below 90%, and AI engines often bypassed the advertising ecosystem that still drives the majority of Alphabet’s revenue.
However, Alphabet was an early pioneer in AI and has always invested in technical improvements. Also, the company’s tremendous resources allowed it to spend between $91 billion and $93 billion in capital expenditures (capex) in 2025 alone.
Today, the latest version of Google Gemini has made competitive strides against ChatGPT and other AI engines. Moreover, Google Cloud continues to grow rapidly, and Waymo appears to be emerging as one of the top autonomous driving companies.
Furthermore, Alphabet can continue these investments. As of the third quarter of 2025, it held more than $98 billion in liquidity. Additionally, it generated almost $74 billion in free cash flow over the previous 12 months, a figure that does not include the aforementioned capex spending.
Indeed, with the nearly 65% gain in Alphabet’s stock price over the last 12 months, investors have started to notice its growth potential, and it is likely not too late to buy. At a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 31, it is the lowest-valued Magnificent Seven stock next to Meta Platforms. Also, if it matched Nvidia’s current P/E ratio of 46, it would already hold the title of the world’s largest market cap.
Hence, as the Google parent and Nvidia’s largest peers continue to make competitive strides, Alphabet will be in the race for the world’s largest market cap, possibly overtaking Nvidia over time.
Tesla
Another company that could overtake Nvidia’s market cap is Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA). In many ways, this choice may seem more surprising than Alphabet.
At a P/E ratio of 290, it has the highest market cap in the Magnificent Seven. Also, its market cap of $1.4 trillion is less than one-third of Nvidia’s size. With its automobile deliveries falling, it seems both figures might be more likely to fall than rise.
Also, Tesla’s $8.9 billion spent on capex and $6.8 billion in free cash flow are a small fraction of Alphabet’s overall investments in its business. Such conditions may explain Tesla stock‘s more modest gains of around 6% over the last year.
However, like Alphabet, Tesla has emerged as an autonomous driving leader, and unlike Waymo, Tesla also manufactures its own vehicles. Thus, it adds the specific hardware tailored to its robotaxi platform, which could conceivably offer a more complete autonomous vehicle ecosystem than competitors.
Also, if one believes the analysis of Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest, the company will reach a $2,600 per-share price target by 2029, an increase of nearly sixfold from current levels. If Tesla meets that price target, its market cap would exceed $8.6 trillion, nearly double Nvidia’s market cap today.
According to Ark Invest’s forecast, Tesla would reach that price as subscriptions to its robotaxi platform overtake vehicle sales as the company’s primary source of net income.
Investors should also remember that software platforms tend to have much higher profit margins than vehicle sales. That arguably renders the aforementioned P/E ratio, which it bases on vehicle sales, relatively meaningless.
Hence, when combining those higher margins with the more complete ecosystem, Tesla could overtake Nvidia as it drives a critical, emerging industry.
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Will Healy has positions in Advanced Micro Devices. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Alphabet, Meta Platforms, Nvidia, and Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
