Once again Apple owns this title after recapturing it from Nvidia
Nvidia rode the AI surge to new heights, but it now appears that Apple is getting its groove back.
Apple takes this title back from Nvidia | Image by PhoneArena
The pages of PhoneArena chronicled the race between Apple and other companies as they battled to become the first publicly traded U.S. company to be valued at one trillion dollars. Apple won that race in early August 2018, beating out Wall Street favorite Amazon. Microsoft and Google parent company Alphabet were also in the race.
Apple is the first company to hit a valuation of one trillion dollars, two trillion dollars, and three trillion dollars
Almost exactly two years later, in August 2020, Apple did it again as it became the first publicly traded US company to reach a valuation of two trillion dollars. Apple was also the first to reach three trillion dollars, although this occurred about seven months earlier than the every-two-year pattern that Apple's shares had been following.
Something changed between 2023 and 2025 and that was OpenAI's release of ChatGPT in November 2022. All of a sudden, everyone wanted a piece of generative AI. This type of AI is used to help create original work based on a prompt.
The rise in demand for GPU chips used for AI training helped Nvidia overcome Apple
Back in 2012, researchers at the University of Toronto discovered that instead of using CPUs to run their neural network called AlexNet, using Nvidia's GeForce GTX gaming graphics cards allowed AlexNet to win a competition and smoke its rivals. That was the moment that serious AI researchers started using GPU chips for their AI models.
Which of these companies will be the most valuable in five years?
While CPUs are powerful, they use sequential processing, which means that they handle tasks only one at a time. The next task isn't started until the previous one is completed. GPUs' use of parallel processing means that multiple tasks can all be handled at the same time.
Why GPU is better than CPU for AI use
For example, a CPU finishes task A, moves on to B, and then to C. Meanwhile, a GPU handles all of the tasks from A to Z at the same time. This is perfect for training AI models since it computes thousands of matrix operations at once. Silicon Valley firms started buying Nvidia's GPUs and as more data centers opened and more AI models were trained, demand for Nvidia's GPUs went through the roof.
Last year at this time, Nvidia became the first publicly traded company to carry a valuation of four trillion dollars, ending Apple's streak. In June 2024, Nvidia first became more valuable than Apple, although they both trailed Microsoft. By the time last October rolled around, Nvidia was not only once again the most valuable publicly traded US firm, it was the first to hit a five trillion dollar market cap.
Apple falls behind Nvidia, the latter falls behind Microsoft, Nvidia rises to the top, and Apple reclaims the top spot. | Image by Bloomberg
Apple recaptures its title as the most valuable publicly traded US company
And that takes us to today. According to Bloomberg, going into Friday's trading session, Apple had recaptured the title of most valuable US public company with a valuation of $4.9 trillion compared to Nvidia's $4.8 trillion valuation. During Friday's regular trading session, Apple expanded the gap a little more as the iPhone maker's shares rose 0.12% while Nvidia's shares declined by 2.71%.
Bloomberg says that Apple is benefiting right now from a market rotation out of AI stocks and into a broader selection of tech firms. Apple, for example, has seen its shares rise 22% this year, while Nvidia is up just 6.84% for 2026. Interestingly, Apple has had a strong 2026 despite the upcoming change in the C-suite as John Ternus takes over for Tim Cook as Apple CEO.
If there is one thing that Wall Street hates, it is uncertainty, and what could be more uncertain than a new CEO replacing the guy who has steered the ship full-time since 2011? Yet Apple has performed so strongly this year, first making an all-time high in the middle of May when it closed above $300. Since then, the stock has tacked on another 10%.
At that time, we told you that Apple making a new high was a sign that Siri AI was going to be a success. I've been using Siri AI since the WWDC keynote ended and the iOS 27 beta was released, and this is what I think:
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