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.

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The iPhone maker said on Monday that Ternus will take over on September 1, while Cook will become executive chairman.

The leadership change comes as Apple strengthens its focus on artificial intelligence, responding to competition from companies including Nvidia, Meta and Google.

Ternus joined Apple in 2001 and currently serves as senior vice-president of hardware engineering. He has worked on several of the company’s biggest products, including the Mac, iPad and AirPods.

He is also seen as an important figure in improving Mac sales in recent years, helping the product regain momentum against personal computer competitors.

Although he has kept a lower public profile than some Apple executives, the company has recently given him a more visible role.

Last year, Ternus presented the iPhone Air, a major redesign of Apple’s flagship device and one of the biggest changes to the product line in years.

At 50, he takes over at the same age Cook did when he succeeded Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in 2011.

Cook leaves the chief executive role after overseeing one of the most successful periods in Apple’s history. Since taking charge in August 2011, he has helped increase the company’s market value by about $3.6 trillion.

He was widely credited with expanding Apple’s global supply chain, especially through manufacturing partnerships in China, while also growing the company’s services and hardware businesses.

Cook also became the first Fortune 500 chief executive to publicly come out as gay in 2014 and often spoke on issues including workplace diversity and environmental policy.

Apple said Cook will remain involved in dealing with policymakers as executive chairman.

Ternus now inherits a company under pressure to show stronger progress in artificial intelligence.

Although Apple introduced Siri in 2011, it has struggled to match the pace of newer AI-focused companies.

Tech giants such as OpenAI and Anthropic have attracted millions of users with new chatbot products, while Nvidia has become the world’s most valuable listed company on the back of demand for AI chips.

In January, Apple reached an agreement with Google to use Gemini technology to improve Siri.

Ternus will also face competition in new devices. Meta Platforms has found success with smart glasses, while Apple’s Vision Pro headset has faced questions over its high price.

Alongside appointing John Ternus as CEO, Apple said Johny Srouji has been named chief hardware officer. He will continue leading the company’s custom chip and sensor teams.

The hardware engineering group previously led by Ternus will now be overseen by Tom Merieb.

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The restructuring will see leadership roles reshuffled across its services, hardware, and health divisions.

Eddy Cue, senior vice president of Services, will now oversee Apple’s health and fitness divisions, and this could boost the company’s reported plan to launch a new subscription service, Health+, in 2026. 

The upcoming service is expected to provide personalised coaching across fitness, sleep, nutrition, and mental health, revealing Apple’s goal to turn wellness into a profitable, recurring-revenue business, much like Apple Music or iCloud.

Jeff Williams, who once led Apple’s health initiatives and was important in building the Apple Watch into a health-focused product, handed the COO role to Sabih Khan, formerly vice president of Operations, back in July. With Williams’ exit drawing near, Apple is redistributing his remaining responsibilities. 

According to Bloomberg, software chief Craig Federighi will take charge of watchOS, while hardware head John Ternus will lead Apple Watch engineering, an appointment that analysts see as a strategic nod to Ternus’s potential as a future successor to CEO Tim Cook, who turns 65 next year.

Again, Jay Blahnik, Apple’s fitness chief, will now report to Sumbul Desai, vice president of Health. This comes when an internal probe into the workplace is being conducted. Both executives previously reported directly to Williams. 

The New York Times earlier revealed that Blahnik was sued by a former employee who accused him of enabling a toxic work environment, an allegation that has placed additional issue on Apple’s corporate culture.

Meanwhile, Johnny Srouji, senior vice president of Hardware Technologies, is reportedly “evaluating his future at the tech giant”, months after his team delivered Apple’s first in-house modem, an achievement in the company’s long effort to reduce dependence on Qualcomm.

Sources reveal that Apple’s leadership transition could extend beyond Williams. Other top executives, including Lisa Jackson, who oversees Environment, and John Giannandrea, head of Artificial Intelligence, are rumoured to be considering retirement.

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