Nvidia, Microsoft, and Apple have all been trading places as the most valuable companies in the world for several months now. Apple held the title for several years before falling to third place, and Nvidia recently topped Microsoft to take the top spot.
There are reasons to believe Nvidia can keep the top spot for now, but there are other companies that I predict will overtake Microsoft in the next few years. Let's see why Amazon (AMZN 0.97%) and Meta Platforms (META 0.37%) make the cut.
1. Amazon: AI and more
Amazon is the fourth-largest company in the world right now, with a market cap of $2.4 trillion. But it has tremendous tailwinds in artificial intelligence (AI) as well as several other growth drivers.
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon's cloud division, is the leading global cloud services provider, capturing 30% of the market, versus 21% for Microsoft's Azure, according to Statista. The cloud division is where the AI business is taking place, and both cloud computing and AI are exploding today.
Image source: Amazon.
AWS offers a huge assortment of cloud computing services that target every type and size of business, and the potential for what can be done with generative AI is attracting new clients to the platform.
Amazon offers three levels of generative AI creation. The bottom level offers tools for developers to build their own large language models (LLMs), the middle layer grants the ability to use a choice of different LLMs for a semi-custom experience, and at the top level is a suite of pre-made solutions for small-business customers. Management touts that it has thousands of features that it's constantly upgrading, many more than its competitors.
Management is devoting more than $100 billion to building out the AI business this year alone, because it envisions a time, coming soon, when AI will be a building block of every new app, and it wants to be in the dominant position to benefit as that happens.
This is the primary reason Amazon stands to overtake Microsoft -- Amazon Web Services is simply superior, and has greater market share than Microsoft Azure.
But it's not just AI, even though that's where its biggest opportunities are right now. E-commerce continues to be Amazon's main business, and e-commerce is still growing faster than total retail. Amazon is both generating that shift and benefiting from it. It continues to improve its delivery speed, reaching more customers at faster rates, and it's always adding new products to reinforce its business and maintain its dominant position, making customers even more reliant on its marketplace for more of their purchases.
It also has some new things cooking, such as its Project Kuiper broadband business. The company has already launched its first low-orbit satellites into space and plans to offer affordable broadband services in many areas, and specifically underserved areas, before the end of the year.
Amazon has a lot going on in many up-and-coming industries, and its stock should reflect that over the next few years.
2. Meta: Everyone is on Facebook
Meta owns large global social media apps Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger, which it collectively calls its Family of Apps, as well as a virtual reality business called Reality Labs. There are 3.4 billion people using at least one of its social media apps as of the 2025 first quarter, nearly half the people on the planet today.
The company makes money primarily through advertising, and because it offers tremendous exposure to so many potential shoppers, it has become one of the largest advertising companies in the world. It's growing through recruiting more members, which means more advertising views, increasing prices, and boosting scrolling hours, which leads to more time viewing ads. It uses AI to determine what interests each user and serve viewers more content that fits.
Meta also offers AI-based chatbots to its users that keep them engaged and on its platform. Revenue per active user has been increasing, which is always impressive when active users is on the rise as well.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg sees a future where AI makes advertising even easier, and clients can put in their budget and goals, and the system takes care of everything else. He expects increased productivity to make advertising a larger business than it is today, making Meta a prime beneficiary. The advertising business is already seeing improvements because of AI. Thanks to a new AI model, advertisements are seeing 5% higher conversions, with 30% more advertisers using these tools.
Zuckerberg also sees social media driving further growth as AI makes social media more engaging for users, and more companies use WhatsApp to run their businesses. Meta has a long growth trajectory, and as it continues to grow and impress investors, the stock should continue gaining and possibly overtake some of today's larger companies, like Microsoft.
It's also essentially a low-cost business to run, and expenses are decreasing as a percentage of revenue, leading to a strong bottom line. Operating income growth is outpacing revenue growth, and earnings per share were up 37% to $6.43. Let's see how Meta and Amazon stack up against Microsoft in growth and valuation.
| Company | Q1 Sales growth | Operating income growth | P/E ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft | 13% | 16% | 39 |
| Amazon | 9% | 20% | 36 |
| Meta | 16% | 27% | 29 |
Data source: Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta quarterly reports. Ycharts.
Meta is the fastest-growing company here, and it's also the cheapest, giving it more room for the stock price to expand. Amazon is growing slower than Microsoft, but it's cheaper, with faster-growing profits. Both business could overtake Microsoft in size and value if these trends keep up.
