Hard Numbers: Nvidia soars, Salesforce’s UK investment, step up for your eye exam, More millionaires (more problems?), Apple’s rebound

​Nvidia logo in Taipei, Taiwan.
Nvidia logo in Taipei, Taiwan.
Reuters
3 trillion: Nvidia stock briefly surpassed $3 trillion in market capitalization this week ahead of a 10-for-1 stock split that’ll make their share price much cheaper. The chipmaker, which is the third most valuable company in the S&P 500 behind Microsoft and Apple, has become a major beneficiary of the AI boom because of its powerful GPU chips. Stock splits don’t affect the value of a company’s stock, but make the share price more palatable for retail investors.

4 billion: Salesforce is investing $4 billion in the United Kingdom and opening a 40,000-square-foot AI-focused office in London on June 18. The US-based software company said it’ll also run training and upskilling programs for professionals looking to gain AI-related skills.

6 million: Want a 90-second eye exam without interacting with a human? The startup Eyebot raised $6 million for AI-enabled kiosks that’ll do just that. The kiosks perform an eye exam, evaluate prescription lenses or contacts, and any recommended prescriptions are sent to a doctor for final review and approval. The company hopes that this telehealth initiative can be an affordable way for people to get their vision checked, especially those without easy access to professionals.

600,000: There are now 600,000 millionaires in the US, thanks to the AI boom. Atop an AI-fueled stock market boom, America’s number of millionaires jumped more than 7% year over year in 2023. Asia gained about 5% more millionaires while Europe saw a 4% increase.

471 billion: Apple’s stock has rallied since early April, gaining 20% — or $471 billion — in value on the back of investor anticipation of AI rollouts on its devices. The company kicked off its Worldwide Developers Conference on June 10, announcing Apple Intelligence, an AI upgrade to its iPhones that will prioritize certain messages and notifications, offer new writing tools, and boost Siri’s capability as a voice-powered assistant.

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