AI wins have Alphabet poised to become world’s biggest company

Over the past year, Alphabet Inc. has gone from an artificial intelligence afterthought to the one firm in the market with dominant positions in nearly every aspect of the technology. Now it’s on the brink of overtaking AI chip giant Nvidia Corp. as the largest company in the world. “Alphabet holds a significant spot in almost every corner of the AI ecosystem, and the combination of everything it offers puts it in a prime position to be the biggest winner of AI,” said Luke O’Neill, chief investment officer at CooksonPeirce Wealth Management, which owns stakes in Alphabet and Nvidia. Google’s parent closed Friday with a market capitalization of $4.8 trillion. Nvidia was below that level on Tuesday, but a three-day rally into the end of the week pushed it to $5.2 trillion. The gap between the two has narrowed considerably over the past six months, as Alphabet shares have been on a tear, including a 34% gain in April, its best month since 2004. On Oct. 31, Nvidia’s market capitalization was $4.9 trillion and Alphabet’s was less than $3.4 trillion. Since then, Alphabet’s stock price has soared 43% while Nvidia’s is up just 6.3%, trailing the S&P 500 Index and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index. Investors say it’s logical that Alphabet would ultimately seize the title of world’s largest company because its tentacles reach into so many important parts of the technology industry and the AI trade. Nvidia may be the leader in building AI chips, but Alphabet has a rival product that’s gaining favor. It also owns a bunch of massive businesses like Google Search, Google Cloud, YouTube and Waymo. In addition, Alphabet’s Gemini AI model is considered one of the best in the industry, and the company is a significant investor in Anthropic, which has another leading model in Claude. “Nvidia is a great company, but it has the potential to be far more cyclical should AI spending slow down,” O’Neill said. “Alphabet is so diversified that if one business falters, the others can pick up the