Nvidia Sets Monthly Record with Unprecedented Market Value Surge in January 

A NVIDIA logo is shown at SIGGRAPH 2017 in Los Angeles, California, US, July 31, 2017. (Reuters)
A NVIDIA logo is shown at SIGGRAPH 2017 in Los Angeles, California, US, July 31, 2017. (Reuters)
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Nvidia Sets Monthly Record with Unprecedented Market Value Surge in January 

A NVIDIA logo is shown at SIGGRAPH 2017 in Los Angeles, California, US, July 31, 2017. (Reuters)
A NVIDIA logo is shown at SIGGRAPH 2017 in Los Angeles, California, US, July 31, 2017. (Reuters)

NVIDIA Corp experienced a record-breaking surge in market value in January, the largest monthly increase ever, driven by heightened optimism around artificial intelligence (AI), positive analyst projections, and the company's announcement of expanded AI offerings.

The world's most valuable chipmaker saw its market value expand by an unprecedented $296.52 billion to about $1.52 trillion, surpassing its previous high of $248.23 billion in gains seen in May 2023.

Last month, Nvidia's stock climbed to new heights following the announcement of new desktop graphics processors and advancements in AI-related components and software.

Meanwhile, Microsoft, the world's most valuable company, also enjoyed a robust increase in market value, adding $159.36 billion, largely attributed to the rising demand for its Azure cloud service.

The tech giant on Tuesday reported higher than estimated quarterly profit and revenue, although investors turned cautious about its rising costs that are expected to "increase materially" on a sequential basis.

As of Wednesday, Microsoft's market value stood at $2.95 trillion, outstripping Apple Inc's $2.85 trillion in market capital.

Meanwhile, Meta Platforms saw a strengthening in its market value last month, crossing back over the $1 trillion mark for the first time since September 2021.

Meta's stock surged over 14% to a record high $451 after the bell on Thursday, elevating its market capitalization by $148 billion to $1.16 trillion after the Facebook owner delivered a 25% jump in revenue to $40.1 billion for the December quarter and declared its first-ever dividend.

On the other end of the spectrum, Tesla Inc emerged as the weakest performer among the top 20 global companies by market cap, losing about 24.5% of its value over the last month due to concerns over slowing growth. CEO Elon Musk has cautioned that sales growth would be "notably lower" this year despite recent price reductions.



OpenAI Enters Google-Dominated Search Market with SearchGPT 

OpenAI logo is seen in this illustration taken May 20, 2024. (Reuters)
OpenAI logo is seen in this illustration taken May 20, 2024. (Reuters)
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OpenAI Enters Google-Dominated Search Market with SearchGPT 

OpenAI logo is seen in this illustration taken May 20, 2024. (Reuters)
OpenAI logo is seen in this illustration taken May 20, 2024. (Reuters)

OpenAI is venturing into a territory long dominated by Google with the selective launch of SearchGPT, an artificial intelligence-powered search engine with real-time access to information from the internet.

The move, announced on Thursday, also places the AI giant in competition with its largest backer Microsoft's Bing search and emerging services such as Perplexity — a search-focused AI chatbot firm backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and semiconductor giant Nvidia.

Shares of Google's parent company Alphabet ended 3% lower on Thursday after OpenAI's announcement.

OpenAI said it has opened sign-ups for the new tool, which is currently in the prototype stage and is being tested with a small group of users and publishers. The company plans to integrate the best features from the search tool into ChatGPT in the future.

"AI-powered search tools from OpenAI and Perplexity re-affirm search as a content engagement model but pressure Google to be better at its own game," Canaccord Genuity analyst Kingsley Crane said.

Google dominates the search engine market with a 91.1% share as of June, according to web analytics firm Statcounter.

SearchGPT will provide summarized search results with source links in response to user queries, OpenAI said in a blog post. Users will also be able to ask follow-up questions and receive contextual responses.

The company will give publishers access to tools for managing how their content appears in SearchGPT results. News Corp and The Atlantic are publishing partners for SearchGPT.

SearchGPT signals a closer collaboration between publishers and OpenAI, following content licensing agreements with major organizations like Associated Press, News Corp and Axel Springer.

"Newer AI-powered search providers could face challenges of their own, with Perplexity already facing pending legal action from publishers like Wired and Forbes, and Condé Nast," said Crane.

Major search engines have been trying to integrate AI into search since ChatGPT first launched in November 2022. Microsoft, through its early investment, adopted OpenAI technology for its Bing search engine, while Google rolled out AI-powered summaries for the wider public at its developer conference in May.

Google did not respond to a Reuters query on the potential impact of SearchGPT on its business.

Reuters had earlier reported on OpenAI's plans around AI search in May.