New Delhi, July 15 -- Until 2014, oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. was the world's most valuable company by market capitalization, often trading places with iPhone maker Apple Inc. Its market cap touched $446 billion in mid-2014, when crude prices were above $100 a barrel.

Today, even after a recovery to about $490 billion in market cap, ExxonMobil is a shadow of its former dominance, as artificial intelligence (AI) companies outpace traditional sectors by a huge margin.

Nvidia recently soared past a staggering $4 trillion in market capitalization, becoming the world's most valuable company - a milestone fueled almost entirely by the AI boom. Microsoft follows at about $3.74 trillion, while Apple stands at about $3.15 trillion.

Even Amazon ...