As of the end of 2023, the top four worldwide brands were Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, according to consultancy company Interbrand. Moreover, four of the top five most valuable firms in the world are these.

The other is Nvidia, which briefly this week overtook Microsoft to take the top spot in the world’s market capitalization rankings.

However, Nvidia doesn’t even make the top 100 most famous names on Interbrand’s most recent list, which is populated with businesses like McDonald’s, Starbucks, Disney, and Netflix, despite its $3.1 trillion value (it hit $3.3 trillion before a two-day fall).

Due mostly to the demand for its graphics processing units (GPUs), which are at the core of the generative artificial intelligence boom and the general buzz around AI, Nvidia has seen an approximately ninefold increase in valuation since the end of 2022. When it comes to processors used for ChatGPT and other AI software deployment, Nvidia has more than 80% of the market. The majority of its semiconductor purchasers are a small number of very large IT corporations.

Nvidia’s climb has been so quick, and its lack of customer interaction along the way has made the 31-year-old company’s Main Street brand awareness lag well behind its Wall Street appeal. Japanese camera manufacturer Canon is ranked 100th on Interbrand’s list for 2023, while Dutch brewer Heineken is ranked 99th.

Greg Silverman, global head of brand economics at Interbrand, stated via email that “as a product company recently moving onto a global stage, Nvidia has not had time, nor has it dedicated resources, to change its role of brand and strengthen its brand to protect future revenue.” According to Silverman, Nvidia’s danger is that, “despite its market cap heights, its weak brand strength will limit how valuable it will be.”

An Nvidia representative declined to comment.

For the last three quarters, Nvidia’s yearly sales growth has surpassed 200%. According to LSEG, revenue for the fiscal year 2025 is anticipated to nearly quadruple from the previous year to exceed $120 billion.

The company’s data centre GPUs, which accounted for 85% of revenue in the most recent quarter, are deployed in sizable facilities and usually need to be configured to effectively produce AI software by a team of costly data science and supercomputing professionals.

On the other hand, the majority of Apple’s revenue comes from selling iPhones and other gadgets to customers worldwide. The company was ranked first by Interbrand.

Second-placed Microsoft is a massive corporate sales company that is well-known for its Office and Windows products. Third-placed Amazon aims to be the one-stop shop for customers, while Google, at number four, serves as many people’s gateway to the internet.

The South Korean electronics behemoth Samsung, three automakers (Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW), Coca-Cola, and Nike complete Interbrand’s top 10.

Rival company Intel, which is ranked No. 24 on the list, is more well-known for producing the processors that power laptops and desktop computers as well as for its enduring “Intel Inside” marketing campaign. Even the server manufacturer, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, came in at number ninety-one on the list.

Nonetheless, a rival assessment indicates that Nvidia’s brand worth is beginning to equal that of its competitors.

Nvidia ranked No. 6 in a rating of the 100 most valuable global brands released this month by Kantar BrandZ, moving up 18 spots from its previous study. In just one year, the brand’s total worth increased by 178% to an estimated $202 billion. In order to determine a brand’s overall estimated worth, Kantar conducts polls with enterprise purchasers to assess brands that predominantly sell to other enterprises.

According to Marc Glovsky, senior brand strategist at Kantar, “Nvidia is pound for pound as relevant and meaningful to that B2B buyer that’s looking to make big, large purchases in-house for their company as Apple is to the consumer who’s buying an iPad or a Mac.”

Furthermore, although your parents and children might not be familiar with the brand Nvidia, it is well-known in a certain segment of the consumer market. Simply ask your avid gamer friend.

AI was still in its infancy in 1991, when Nvidia was established. The company’s main goal was to create chips with fast digital triangle drawing capabilities, a fundamental feature that sparked a massive boom in 3D gaming.

For many years, those who customised their PCs to run the most complex games were familiar with Nvidia, its GeForce name, and its green logo. The Nintendo Switch system, which has been sold in over 140 million copies worldwide, is powered by semiconductors made by Nvidia.

Within the first three days of the game’s release, Splatoon 3’s domestic sales broke all previous records, according to Nintendo. The success of Splatoon 3 in Japan contributed to the continued popularity of Nintendo’s aged Switch system.

Nvidia, in contrast to Intel, has never used eye-catching advertising campaigns to promote its brand. And for the chipmaker, gaming is now simply a pleasant side gig. It brought in $2.6 billion, or 10% of total revenues, in the most recent quarter, an increase of 18% year over year.

Companies and organisations competing for Nvidia’s AI processors must go through a rigorous pricing and sales procedure, frequently via a computer equipment provider like Dell or HPE. This is because Nvidia’s most essential products are chips. These suppliers offer whole systems that include memory, a central CPU, and additional components. Building their own server clusters is less common than renting Nvidia access through a cloud provider, even for professionals who wish to train AI models.

Nevertheless, Nvidia is becoming more and more well-known. Based on data collected and released by Vanda Research last month, Nvidia has become the most widely held stock among retail investors.

Even though the name didn’t appear in Interbrand’s top 100 list for 2023, Silverman said that the company’s data indicates that its brand recognition doubled in the previous 12 months, which will be helpful when it comes time for the next rating.

Perhaps by then, individuals will have mastered the pronunciation of its name, an issue that has been discussed on esoteric gaming forums. It’s pronounced en-VID-ia by the firm.

(Adapted from CNBC.com)