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.