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Apple briefly touches $5 trillion market cap for first time, surpassing Nvidia
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Apple briefly reached a $5 trillion market capitalization on Tuesday, a day after overtaking Nvidia as the world's most valuable publicly traded company. The milestone reflects a shift in investor sentiment away from heavy AI capital expenditure by hyperscalers like Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft, and toward Apple's more conservative spending strategy. Apple shares have risen 25% in 2026, while Nvidia has gained only 6%. The company announced a new iPhone leasing program and recently raised prices on MacBooks and iPads due to global memory shortages. Thursday's earnings call will be Tim Cook's last as CEO, with John Ternus taking over on September 1. The rivalry between Apple and Nvidia underscores a broader investor debate about the future of AI investment and returns.
Source report
Apple on Tuesday briefly reached a market capitalization of $5 trillion for the first time, a day after surpassing Nvidia to become the most valuable publicly traded company.
Shares of the iPhone maker, which reports quarterly results on Thursday, have risen 25% this year, outperforming its megacap peers. The stock hit a high of $342.89 on Tuesday before retreating slightly.
The AI Investment Debate
The jockeying between Apple and Nvidia reflects a broader debate about the future of artificial intelligence that has preoccupied investors this summer.
- Hyperscalers — Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft — are collectively spending hundreds of billions of dollars on capital expenditures this year for their AI buildouts.
- Apple, by contrast, has kept its capex spending low, relying on cloud infrastructure and AI technology from Google.
Apple trailed its trillion-dollar peers in the market last year as investors worried the company was missing the AI boom by keeping investments in check and delaying the long-awaited rollout of an upgraded Siri, which will be released this fall alongside new iPhone hardware. However, the narrative has shifted recently due to concerns that aggressive tech spenders are taking on significant debt and going cash flow negative without a clear path to substantial returns.
Market Cap Competition
Nvidia, whose graphics processing units power most major AI models, became the first company to hit the $5 trillion mark in October. However, the stock has been a relative laggard this year, gaining only 6%.
Apple's stock has rallied despite price hikes on devices resulting from the global memory shortage.
Recent Developments
On Tuesday, Apple announced Upgrade, a new program allowing U.S. customers to lease iPhones and other products instead of buying them outright.
Last month, the company raised prices on MacBooks and iPads — its first formal move to pass higher memory and storage costs on to consumers, after CEO Tim Cook said increases had become unavoidable.
Leadership Transition
Thursday's earnings call will be Cook's last as CEO, with John Ternus set to take over on September 1.
WATCH: 'Fast Money' traders talk Apple hitting new high ahead of earnings
Video: 5:20 | Fast Money
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Part of this Story
Apple surpasses Nvidia as world's most valuable company on July 17, 2026