Samsung Electronics has slipped one notch to third place in a ranking of global semiconductor companies in terms of market capitalization.

Taiwan's TSMC, which once competed with Samsung Electronics for the top spot, surpassed US$600 billion in market capitalization to become the largest chipmaker in the world.

The company also placed 9th in the list of the world’s largest companies in terms of market capitalization, which was compiled by CompaniesMarketCap.com.

Nvidia replaced Samsung as the second-largest chipmaker. It placed 13th in the list of the world’s largest companies, followed by Samsung, which was ranked 14th.

Samsung Electronics became the world’s largest chipmaker in terms of sales revenue this year, overtaking Intel for the first time in three years. Yet its stock price has not gained much.

The stock price of Nvidia, listed on the NASDAQ in the United States, closed at US$202.74, up 2.32 percent from the previous day. Based on the closing price, Nvidia's market capitalization was estimated at about US$505.2 billion.

This figure is the 13th highest among listed companies in the world and the second highest among global chipmakers after Taiwan's TSMC, which is valued at about US$615.8 billion. It is the first time that NVIDIA has surpassed Samsung Electronics in market capitalization.

Samsung Electronics' stock price recovered to the 82,000 won range on Aug. 5 on the back of gains for the three consecutive trading days, but its market capitalization still stays below 500 trillion won.

Nvidia's market capitalization swelled 66.09 percent in the past one year. Its growth eclipsed that of Samsung Electronics (52.84 percent). NVIDIA shares rose on the back of a booming cryptocurrency market because its graphic cards are essential to mining cryptocurrencies.

The stock price of top-ranked TSMC has continued to rise. TSMC’s market capitalization was less than US$500 billion at the end of 2020 but recently soared to as high as US$615.8 billion. TSMC's market capitalization shot up by more than 124 percent in the past one year.

Accordingly, TSMC stood ninth in the global market capitalization rankings, behind Tesla (USUS$703.8 billion) and Berkshire Hathaway (USUS$638.4 billion). It also beat Tencent and Alibaba of China to become the largest company in Asia in market capitalization.