Apple surpassed Nvidia and became the most valuable company in the world, with 5 trillion dollars
In any case, AI also impacted Apple in another way: the company faces a global shortage of memory and storage caused by AI demand, which forced it to raise prices on products like the Mac and iPad. Although it has not yet raised iPhone prices, that could change with its upcoming models.
This scenario occurs as Tim Cook, CEO and successor to Steve Jobs, prepares to hand over the reins to John Ternus on September 1, in one of the largest leadership transitions in the company's history.
Far from the euphoria surrounding Apple, the tech Nasdaq fell more than 1% on Tuesday, amid global market caution regarding the stocks of AI chip manufacturers. This concern is based on high corporate spending and increasing Chinese competition.
The Roundhill Memory Exchange fund plummeted 10%, its lowest in over two months
The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index fell 4% and accumulated a decline of more than 20% since its June peak
Alphabet and Tesla raise doubts about their liquidity to finance their AI projects
China is advancing with more affordable AI models and strengthening its presence in semiconductors
This week, the so-called hyperscalers of AI (Amazon, Meta, Apple, and Microsoft) will publish their quarterly results, and investors will be watching to see if their large investments in the sector begin to generate profitability.
Apple became the most valuable company in the world, after dethroning Nvidia on Wall Street. The company's shares rose 0.8% and the firm reached a market capitalization of 5 trillion dollars.
With this milestone, Apple became the second publicly traded company in history to reach that figure. In this way, it surpassed the USD 4.8 trillion of Nvidia and left Alphabet (Google) in third place, with 4.06 trillion dollars.
The company led by Tim Cook achieved this milestone less than a year after surpassing 4 trillion dollars in October 2025. Apple shares rose nearly 24% so far this year and almost 60% in the last twelve months, driven by strong iPhone sales.
In recent years, investors had been critical of the direction of the company based in Cupertino, California, due to its delay in the race for artificial intelligence. Although Apple introduced its Apple Intelligence platform in 2024, it delayed key software components, including an improved version of Siri.
This delay resulted in changes in the company's top management. Finally, Apple signed an agreement to use Google's Gemini AI models (whose stock rose 6% on Tuesday) to enhance its voice assistant. The company is expected to launch the beta version of the revamped Siri along with its first foldable iPhone and the iPhone 18 line by the end of the year.
According to Yahoo Finance, the lack of strong exposure to the AI field meant that Apple did not experience the same explosive growth as other major tech companies since OpenAI launched ChatGPT in November 2022.
Among the tech giants that led the stock market expansion of this decade, Nvidia shares were the most benefited, with an increase of around 1,125% since the 2020 pandemic. Meta's shares rose nearly 386% and Google's by 226%. Apple's shares, meanwhile, increased by 130% during that period.
However, Apple also avoided some of the sharp declines suffered by its AI-focused rivals. Microsoft shares, for example, fell nearly 28% from their all-time closing high of 542.07 dollars, reached in October 2025, amid doubts about spending and growth in artificial intelligence.
