Oct 14 Reuters Shares of Nvidia closed at their highest ever on Monday, putting the heavyweight AI chipmaker on the brink of dethroning Apple as the world39;s most valuable company.

With investors betting on strong demand for its current and nextgeneration AI processors, the Santa Clara, California company39;s stock climbed 2.4 to end the day at 138.07.

In June, Nvidia briefly became the world39;s most valuable company. It was overtaken by Microsoft, and the tech trio39;s market capitalizations have been neckandneck for several months.

The latest gains lifted Nvidia39;s market value to 3.39 trillion, just below Apple39;s 3.52 trillion value and above Microsoft39;s 3.12 trillion.

Nvidia has been Wall Street39;s biggest winner from a race between Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and other major tech companies to dominate emerging AI technology.

We believe the major companies in AI … face an investment environment characterized by a Prisoner39;s Dilemma each is individually incentivized to continue spending, as the costs of not doing so are potentially devastating, TD Cowen analysts wrote in a report on Sunday.

TD Cowen reiterated its 165 price target for Nvidia, which it called its Top Pick, and it said demand for the company39;s current generation of AI chips remained strong.

Nvidia in August confirmed reports that a rampup in production of its upcoming Blackwell chips was delayed until the fourth quarter, but downplayed the impact, saying customers were snapping up…