Apple Officially Overtakes Nvidia as World's Most Valuable Company
Apple has overtaken Nvidia as the world’s most valuable company. The change of position shows that investors are beginning to reassess the prospects of the company that has so far been the main beneficiary of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom.
Apple’s market capitalisation was last recorded at around US$4.88 trillion. Nvidia, meanwhile, stood at around US$4.86 trillion after its shares plunged 3.5%.
Apple has reclaimed the top position for the first time since April last year. Previously, Nvidia had topped the list of companies with the largest market value for almost a year.
The change in ranking reflects a shift in investors’ views on the prospects of the AI industry. Investors are now not only focusing on companies that directly supply technology for AI development, such as Nvidia.
“Apple was considered to be lagging in the AI race because it did not spend much on developing AI models, but now sentiment has changed,” said Toni Meadows, chief investment officer at BRI Wealth Management, quoted by Reuters on Saturday (18/7/2026).
“Apple has lower exposure to capital expenditure intensity and is in a better position to monetise AI through services, ecosystem stickiness, and hardware upgrades. This re-rating reflects confidence in earnings resilience, not a speculative AI-driven rise,” he continued.
For Apple, the achievement is a signal that the company is beginning to strengthen its position amid AI competition. This momentum could also influence assessments of the final period of CEO Tim Cook’s leadership.
Cook is scheduled to hand over his post to hardware veteran John Ternus in September.
Apple has also begun to accelerate its pace in the AI race. Last month, the company launched a major overhaul of Siri, which had been delayed for quite some time.
Apple hopes the latest version of the virtual assistant can narrow the gap with the major technology companies and startups that are now its competitors in the AI race.
A number of analysts believe Apple has significant resources to develop AI, namely the personal data stored on every iPhone. That data has the potential to make Siri’s answers more relevant and improve the digital assistant’s capabilities.
However, Apple faces a major challenge because that data is locked within the operating system for privacy protection reasons. The company must find a way to harness the value of that data without sacrificing its commitment to user privacy.
Nvidia previously became the first company in the world to break through a US$5 trillion market capitalisation last October. That achievement took Nvidia to a level that had previously been difficult for its competitors to reach.
Although it has now been overtaken by Apple, the change does not necessarily signal a permanent shift in position. Nvidia remains one of the biggest beneficiaries of the surge in AI spending.
Nvidia’s graphics chips are also the main component underpinning the development of generative AI technology. As such, Nvidia still has a chance to reclaim the top position if investor sentiment changes.
On the other hand, Apple also faces challenges. The company has raised prices on a number of its products to offset rising costs. That strategy risks dampening consumer demand.
“I don’t see any meaningful difference. Nvidia will most likely remain a key player in whatever happens going forward,” said Benjamin Hall, vice president of alpha research at Segal Marco Advisors.
Enthusiasm for AI has also begun to spread to other parts of the semiconductor sector. One of the biggest beneficiaries this year has been memory chip makers such as Micron.
Micron broke through a US$1 trillion market capitalisation in May after investors became increasingly aware of the importance of memory chips in AI infrastructure.
South Korean company SK Hynix, which also listed on the Nasdaq earlier this month, has added to the number of players competing for investors’ attention.
“Newcomers to the market can spread investors’ focus from the pure Magnificent Seven names to a broader set of companies,” said Hall.