Apple has overtaken Nvidia to reclaim the title of the world’s most valuable publicly traded company, ending a reign that Nvidia built almost entirely on the back of insatiable demand for AI chips.
The two companies had been running neck and neck for weeks. In mid-July 2026, the gap between them narrowed to roughly $20 billion on certain trading days.
The decisive swing came on July 3, when Apple shares jumped nearly 5% after reports surfaced about an expanded iPhone lineup. Nvidia, meanwhile, faced selling pressure as sentiment across the broader chip sector softened.
Nvidia’s market cap has ranged between roughly $4.7 trillion and $5.15 trillion in early-to-mid July 2026, while Apple’s has tracked between $4.5 trillion and $4.9 trillion over the same stretch. Apple’s fiscal third-quarter earnings, due July 30, are expected to show revenue growth of 14% to 17%.
Nvidia’s meteoric, and recent, rise
Nvidia’s ascent has been extraordinary by any measure. Its market cap sat below $20 billion in 2015. By October 2025, it had crossed $5 trillion, becoming the first company in history to hit that mark — just three months after first crossing $4 trillion in July 2025. Nvidia had first overtaken Apple as the world’s most valuable company in October 2024.
Apple, for its part, has its own string of firsts: the first US company to reach a $1 trillion market cap in 2018, the first to $2 trillion in 2020 and the first to $3 trillion in 2022.
Not necessarily permanent
Losing the top spot doesn’t necessarily mark a lasting shift. Nvidia remains a major beneficiary of AI-related spending, with its graphics processors powering much of the generative AI boom, and it could reclaim the crown if sentiment turns. Apple, meanwhile, faces its own risk: it has raised prices to offset rising costs, a strategy that could dent demand, Reuters report stated.
The AI rally has also spread beyond the two giants. Memory chipmaker Micron crossed the $1 trillion mark in May as investors embraced memory chips’ growing role in AI infrastructure. South Korea’s SK Hynix added to the competition for investor attention with a Nasdaq listing earlier this month.
