By Sean Williams
Publication Date: 2026-05-06 08:06:00
No trend has captured the attention and capital of investors over the last three years quite like the evolution of artificial intelligence (AI). Empowering software and systems with the tools to make rapid, autonomous decisions is a multitrillion-dollar opportunity across most sectors and industries around the globe.
To date, graphics processing unit (GPU) titan Nvidia (NVDA 1.02%) has heralded the charge. But we may be witnessing a changing of the guard, courtesy of Google’s parent company, Alphabet (GOOGL +1.36%)(GOOG +1.24%), whose first-quarter operating results indicate we’ve reached a critical phase of AI’s evolution.
Image source: Getty Images.
Nvidia has sat atop the pedestal for years
When 2023 began, Nvidia was a $360 billion company of fringe importance. But in the years that have followed, it’s vaulted to the top of the pedestal and consistently maintained its pole position as America’s largest public company. Last week, its market cap topped $5 trillion.
The catalyst fueling these outsize returns is the insatiable demand for Nvidia’s GPUs. In addition to Nvidia holding a virtual monopoly on enterprise data center GPUs, its external rivals aren’t particularly close to matching or surpassing the compute capabilities of its several generations of AI chips, including Hopper, Blackwell, and Blackwell Ultra.
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