Microsoft is the second largest company in the world with a market capitalization of just under $3 trillion at the time of writing this article. The tech giant has managed to achieve this position thanks to its solid presence in several applications such as cloud computing, its popular Windows operating system, and workplace collaboration tools.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as another solid growth driver for Microsoft recently, helping to accelerate the company’s growth in recent quarters. However, Microsoft is not the only tech giant using AI as a springboard to boost its growth. NVIDIA (NVDA 4.08%) And Meta-platforms (META -0.35%) also benefit from the booming adoption of artificial intelligence in their respective industries.

Let’s take a closer look at Nvidia and Meta Platforms’ prospects over the next decade to find out why they have the potential to overtake Microsoft’s market cap in the long term.

1. Nvidia

Nvidia is currently the third-largest company in the world behind Microsoft with a market capitalization of $2.56 trillion. The semiconductor specialist’s value has risen significantly since late 2022, when it became clear that its graphics processing units (GPUs) for data centers will play a central role in the proliferation of AI.

Microsoft partner OpenAI used Nvidia’s GPUs to train ChatGPT, the generative AI chatbot that exploded in popularity after its launch in late 2022. Since then, tech giants around the world have been lining up to buy Nvidia’s AI GPUs to train and deploy AI models. This has allowed the chipmaker to control more than 80% of the AI ​​chip market, leaving very little for competitors like. AMD.

KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst John Vinh estimates that Nvidia could generate a whopping $200 billion in data center revenue next year as demand for its next-generation Blackwell AI chips is reportedly stronger than expected. That would be a significant jump from the $47.5 billion in data center revenue Nvidia reported last year.

Meanwhile, consensus estimates suggest that Nvidia’s data center revenue could rise to $140 billion next year, which would still be a significant jump from last year’s revenue in the segment. For comparison, AMD expects to sell $4.5 billion worth of data center GPUs this year, which shows us how dominant Nvidia is in this market.

Since Nvidia will release a new AI GPU every year (compared to its previous plan of refreshing its lineup every two years), the company could still have a solid share of the AI ​​chip market even after 10 years. According to Future Market Insights, the total GPU market is expected to be worth $1.16 trillion in 2034. Nvidia’s strong position in this market will enable the company to experience robust growth over the next decade.

In addition, analysts expect Nvidia’s earnings to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 42% over the next five years, which is higher than the 13% annual earnings growth Microsoft is expected to achieve over the same period.

Nvidia’s huge end-market opportunity and dominant market share suggest that it could continue to grow faster than Microsoft over the next five years, and possibly even the next decade. Therefore, it would not be surprising to see Nvidia overtake Microsoft’s market capitalization after ten years.

2. Meta platforms

Meta Platforms is currently the seventh-largest company in the world with a market cap of $1.25 trillion, well behind Microsoft. However, the impressive pace at which Meta has grown recently thanks to the increasing adoption of its AI-powered advertising tools suggests that the company could maintain a healthy growth pace over the next decade.

According to eMarketer, digital ad spending could grow 13.2% in 2024. Meta is on track to grow faster than the industry it operates in. The company’s revenue rose 24% to $75.5 billion in the first six months of the year. The revenue forecast of $39.75 billion for the current quarter would represent 16% year-over-year growth, again higher than the forecast growth in digital ad spending this year.

Meta’s ability to drive higher returns for advertisers using AI-powered advertising campaigns is helping the company attract more advertising dollars. Management said on the recent earnings call that U.S. advertisers saw a 22% increase in revenue after adopting Meta’s AI-powered advertising tools like Advantage+.

These AI tools enable advertisers using Meta’s offerings to better target their audiences, drive additional purchases from that audience, and reduce acquisition costs. Meta reported a 10% year-over-year increase in ad impressions delivered in the second quarter, as well as a 10% improvement in average cost per ad.

According to Prophecy Market Insights, the global digital advertising market is expected to be worth a whopping $1.76 trillion in 2034, up from this year’s estimated revenue of $467 billion. Meta is expected to generate $161 billion in revenue in 2024, meaning the company could have a third of the digital advertising market under its control by the end of the year.

If the company continues to capture a larger share of this lucrative end-market opportunity over the long term, its revenue could grow significantly in the future. Assuming Meta can increase its digital advertising market share to 40% in 2034, its revenue could reach a whopping $704 billion. That would be more than four times the company’s projected revenue for 2024.

Given that the US technology sector has a price-to-sales ratio of 7, Meta could see a significant expansion in its market capitalization over the long term at this valuation. Meta Platforms actually has the potential to become a bigger company than Microsoft in the coming decade thanks to its growing influence in the digital advertising market.