Nvidia has handed back the position as the world’s most valuable company to Microsoft after its share price fell by more than 3.5% on Thursday.

The artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant briefly held the top spot from Tuesday, with a stock market valuation of $3.34tn (£2.64tn).

But Nvidia’s shares fell to $130.78 on Thursday, sending its value down to around $3.22tn, with Microsoft reclaiming the title as it held steady at more than $3.3tn.

Nvidia’s rise has been fuelled by its dominance of what analysts call the “new gold or oil in the tech sector” – the chips that power AI.

Nvidia, Microsoft and Apple – each worth more than $3tn – are in a three-horse race to be the world’s most valuable company.

While Nvidia reached the top spot for just a brief period, some analysts have predicted competition between the three technology firms will remain fierce.

“We believe over the next year the race to $4 trillion market cap in tech will be front and centre between Nvidia, Apple, and Microsoft,” Wedbush Securities said in a note earlier this week.

Nvidia’s stock has boomed thanks to growing demand for chips that train and run generative AI models, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

The firm also benefitted significantly from a rush to mine Bitcoin in 2020, which saw a jump in sales of its graphics cards.

Its rise as been mirrored by the growing profile of its boss, Jensen Huang, who has become well-known thanks in part to his popularity in his native Taiwan, where fans treat him like a rock star.