Apple briefly overtook Nvidia on Friday to become the world’s most valuable publicly traded company for the first time since April 2025, as the chipmaker’s shares extended their retreat from recent highs.
Apple’s market value reached about $4.88 trillion during the crossover, narrowly exceeding Nvidia at roughly $4.86 trillion. AAPL traded as high as $336.67, while Nvidia fell more than 3% during the earlier part of the session.
The lead changed again as prices moved through the trading day. The latest market check placed Nvidia near $4.99 trillion and Apple around $4.86 trillion, leaving the two companies separated by less than 3%.
Apple’s advance extended a run that produced a fresh record high earlier this week. AAPL has climbed about 20% since June as investors returned to the company’s consumer-device ecosystem, services revenue and developing artificial intelligence strategy.
Nvidia Retreat Narrows Valuation Gap
Nvidia had held the top global valuation since June 2025 and became the first company to cross $5 trillion in October. Its position weakened during July as investors reduced exposure to semiconductor stocks after a prolonged AI infrastructure rally.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index has fallen sharply from its June peak, while Nvidia has dropped more than 15% from its May valuation high. The decline does not change Nvidia’s central role in supplying graphics processors used across large-scale AI training and inference, but it has narrowed a valuation gap that reached more than $1 trillion last year.
Apple has benefited from a different AI trade. Its capital spending remains far below the data-center budgets of Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and Meta, allowing investors to focus on potential AI revenue from devices, services and future hardware upgrades without the same infrastructure costs.
Siri Overhaul Rebuilds AI Confidence
Apple’s valuation recovery accelerated after the company unveiled a wider Siri overhaul and expanded Apple Intelligence across its operating systems. The presentation initially produced a roughly $230 billion intraday reversal as investors questioned execution and availability across China and the European Union.
Sentiment improved as markets began pricing Apple’s installed device base as a distribution advantage for on-device AI. Its services business also reached a record in the March quarter, helping total revenue rise 17% year over year to $111.2 billion.
Apple’s recent trade-secret lawsuit against OpenAI has also placed its hardware expertise inside the widening race to build dedicated consumer AI devices.
Apple will report fiscal third-quarter results on July 30, with investors focused on iPhone demand, services growth and the rollout schedule for its upgraded AI products.
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