Apple briefly overtook Nvidia on Friday to reclaim the title of the world’s most valuable company, marking the first time since April 2025 that the position was not held by an AI chipmaker. The shift came as investors reassessed how much further the artificial intelligence trade could run, with capital appearing to rotate away from the chipmakers that had driven much of the sector’s gains over the past year.
Trading through the session was volatile, with the two companies swapping the top spot several times rather than settling into a clear outcome. Nvidia shares fell as much as 4.6 percent within the first half hour of trading, pushing its market value below $4.8 trillion, while Apple edged higher to reach roughly $4.9 trillion at its session peak. Reports on how the day ultimately closed varied. Some outlets reported that Apple ended the day at approximately $4.88 trillion against Nvidia’s $4.86 trillion, while others described Nvidia recovering its losses to close narrowly ahead, with Nvidia finishing down 2.2 percent at just over $4.9 trillion, edging out Apple by around $6 billion.
Nvidia had held the title of most valuable company for close to a year, a run that began after it became the first company to cross a $5 trillion market valuation. Since peaking near $5.7 trillion in mid-May, the company’s valuation has fallen by roughly $900 billion amid growing investor caution around the pace of AI infrastructure spending, with the semiconductor sector as a whole seeing its steepest weekly decline in more than a year. Apple, by contrast, has added more than $500 billion in value over the same period, helped by renewed investor confidence in its artificial intelligence strategy following the rollout of an updated version of Siri and a strong quarterly earnings report showing double digit growth in iPhone sales.
Analysts described the shift as part of a broader rotation in how investors are approaching the AI trade, moving some attention away from infrastructure providers like Nvidia toward companies seen as positioned to benefit from consumer facing AI applications. One market strategist noted that new entrants gaining ground could help spread investor focus beyond the small group of dominant technology companies that have led the market in recent years. Whichever company ultimately holds the title going forward, both remain closely matched at the top of global markets, with investors continuing to watch upcoming quarterly results from each company for signs of how the AI trade may evolve through the rest of the year.
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