Apple has overtaken Nvidia to become the world’s most valuable company, returning to the top spot for the first time since April 2025.
Apple’s market value stood at about $4.88 trillion on Friday after its shares held steady. Nvidia’s valuation fell to around $4.86 trillion after its stock dropped 3.5%.
The change ends Nvidia’s run at the top, which began in June 2025. The chipmaker became the first company to cross a $5 trillion market valuation in October last year, driven by strong demand for its artificial intelligence chips.
Now, investors appear to be giving more weight to companies that can generate steady earnings from AI without spending heavily on infrastructure.
“Apple was seen as a laggard in the AI race because it wasn’t spending to develop models, but now sentiment has changed,” said Toni Meadows, head of investment at BRI Wealth Management.
“Apple is less exposed to capex intensity and better positioned to monetise AI via services, ecosystem lock-in, and hardware upgrades. The re-rating reflects confidence in earnings durability rather than speculative AI upside.”
Apple’s rise is also linked to its AI plans. Last month, the company launched a major upgrade to Siri, rolling out the improved assistant across iOS 27 and other Apple devices after months of delays. The update is expected to strengthen Apple’s stand against larger technology competitors and newer AI companies.
The company is also entering a period of leadership change. Chief Executive Tim Cook is due to step down in September, with hardware chief John Ternus set to take over. Investors are watching to see whether Apple’s recent AI investments will strengthen the business under the new leadership.
Some analysts believe Apple has another advantage. The company holds large amounts of personal data across millions of iPhones, which could make Siri more useful and accurate. However, Apple must balance that opportunity with its long-standing privacy commitments, which limit how such data can be used.
Although Apple has reclaimed the top position, analysts do not believe Nvidia has lost its importance. The company is still the leading supplier of graphics processors that power most generative AI systems, and a fresh wave of spending on AI infrastructure could lift its value again.
“I don’t see any meaningful distinction. Nvidia is likely to be a significant participant in whatever happens going forward,” said Benjamin Hall, vice president, alpha research at Segal Marco Advisors.
Investor interest is also spreading beyond the biggest technology companies. Memory chipmakers have attracted attention as demand grows for storage and memory used in AI systems.
Micron crossed the $1 trillion market value mark in May, while South Korea’s SK Hynix joined the Nasdaq earlier this month, giving investors another major semiconductor company to watch.
“The new entrants to the market could spread out the focus away from the pure Magnificent Seven names into a wider number of names,” Hall said.
The semiconductor sector has faced challenges in recent weeks. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index has fallen nearly 19% from its July peak as investors reassess expectations for AI-related stocks. Even so, the index has still delivered a stronger performance this year than Nvidia’s shares.
