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Nvidia is the most valuable company in the world by market cap.
Its unique blend of hardware and software positions it as an indispensable technology stack provider for all things touching artificial intelligence -- including quantum computing.
At the moment, just 11 publicly traded companies can claim a market capitalization above $1 trillion.
That elite trillion-dollar club includes tech juggernauts such as Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, Broadcom, Taiwan Semiconductor, Tesla, along with Warren Buffett's diversified conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway and oil giant Saudi Aramco.
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Among them, Nvidia reigns supreme. With a market cap of roughly $4.4 trillion, it's the most valuable company in the world.
Not only do I think Nvidia is positioned to maintain that crown, I also expect it to remain worth more than Tesla, Berkshire Hathaway, and ambitious AI player Palantir Technologies combined over the next five years, thanks in no small part to the transformative potential of its quantum computing business.
Quantum computing is widely regarded as the natural successor to classical computing. Traditional computers store and process information in binary formats -- 0s and 1s. Quantum machines use qubits -- units that can have values of 1 or 0, but also can exist in complex linear states that are combinations of 1 and 0 through a phenomenon known as superposition.
In theory, this gives quantum computers the ability to rapidly tackle problems that would take today's most advanced supercomputers prohibitive amounts of time to solve -- from cracking high-level cryptography to drug discovery to climate modeling.
Although the quantum computing industry remains in its infancy, expectations are sky-high. Global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company projects that breakthroughs in quantum applications could generate trillions in economic value over the coming decades.
Image source: Getty Images.
A wave of smaller innovators is attempting to make headway in the quantum computing landscape, exploring avenues such as trapped-ion technology, annealing, and photonic qubits in a race to unlock the next generational breakthrough.
Nvidia, by contrast, isn't positioning itself as a singular hardware architecture. What investors may not fully appreciate is that the company is already deeply embedded in the quantum ecosystem. Its graphics processing units (GPUs) are increasingly being used to run advanced simulations, particularly in hybrid systems that bridge quantum and classical computing.
Yet Nvidia's true differentiator lies not in hardware but in software. The company's CUDA computing platform, long the backbone of AI infrastructure, is now being adapted into CUDA-Q -- a platform designed to support quantum applications on the next generation of processors.
By building this bridge between hardware and software, Nvidia is positioning itself as an indispensable layer for scaling quantum development, regardless of which architectures and approaches succeed and reach critical scale. This strategy gives the company asymmetric exposure to AI's next trillion-dollar opportunity, reinforcing its potential for continued valuation expansion over the long term.
Against this backdrop, it's worth examining the valuation profiles of the three companies that I don't expect even combined to surpass Nvidia in the next five years.
In 2030, Berkshire will likely remain a durable pillar of investment stability. Meanwhile, Tesla and Palantir may dazzle intermittently, but if they cannot keep pace with the dynamics of their respective competitive landscapes, investors' enthusiasm for them could wane.
On the other hand, by the start of the next decade, Nvidia could occupy a key position at the intersection of AI and quantum computing. With the potential to become a core player in that hardware and software ecosystem, Nvidia represents the ultimate technology stack of the quantum era. If it succeeds there, that would allow it to justify a valuation that could easily eclipse many of today's industry leaders combined.
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Adam Spatacco has positions in Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, Palantir Technologies, and Tesla. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, Palantir Technologies, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, and Tesla. The Motley Fool recommends Broadcom and C3.ai and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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