Oracle shares rose about 40% on Wednesday after the company pointed to a demand surge for its cloud services from AI firms, underscoring its deeper push into the backbone of artificial intelligence systems.

Oracle is soaring as investors cheer its aggressive data-center forecast as a positive sign for AI demand.

Oracle stock experienced a significant drop following a massive rally driven by AI demand and major cloud deals. Explore the latest market performance, insights from analysts, and how Larry Ellison nearly became the world's richest person.

Ellison, 81, whose net worth is largely derived from his 41% stake in Oracle, saw his fortune rise by about $100 billion to around $392.6 billion, according to Forbes. He is rapidly closing in on Tesla chief Elon Musk in the race for the title of the world's richest person. Musk's net worth last stood at $439.9 billion.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is now changing everything. Demand for AI infrastructure is exploding, with tech giants and start-ups scrambling to secure capacity to both train and run advanced AI models. Oracle is emerging as an enormous winner.

The stock ( ORCL) shot up more than 40% Wednesday morning, its largest single-day jump ever. It was such big leap that it minted Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison $100 billion in less than hour, making him the world’s richest person and bumping Elon Musk to second place.

Oracle stock is on pace for its best day this century as analysts heap praise on the 48-year-old tech firm's fiscal Q1 report.

Investing.com - Oracle jumped in afterhours trading Tuesday after the cloud-computing company’s bullish cloud revenue growth outlook amid a surging order book pointed to strong AI-fueled demand ahead,