Metaverse hype has put more fire under the market’s two hottest chip stocks. The irony is that the two could end up competing more directly with each other in the brave new virtual world.
Shares of Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices have surged 30% and 20%, respectively, since the company once known as Facebook reported third-quarter results late last month. Those results included a plan to boost capital expenditures by about 66% next year, in large part to start funding the company’s vision of a “metaverse,” the next generation of the internet that will include virtual worlds with real economies. As part of that plan, Facebook even changed its formal name to Meta Platforms and will begin trading under a new ticker symbol next month.