Apple Overtakes Nvidia as the World's Most Valuable Company Amid an AI Spending Selloff
JUST IN: Apple officially surpasses Nvidia to become the world's most valuable company by market cap. $AAPL: $5.0 trillion $NVDA: $4.9 trillion
Context
Investors are rewarding the big tech company that has spent least on AI infrastructure, a sign of growing doubt that the AI building boom will pay off soon.
Nvidia became the world's most valuable company on demand for its AI chips. Apple has kept its capital spending far lower than other big tech companies. Watcher Guru is a news aggregator account on X.
Deep dive
Watcher Guru posted on Friday that Apple has surpassed Nvidia to become the world's most valuable company by market value, at 5.0 trillion dollars against 4.9 trillion.
Bloomberg's report, republished by The Straits Times, confirms it. Apple shares fell 1.2 percent on Friday, leaving a market value of 5.03 trillion dollars, while Nvidia sank 4.2 percent to close at 4.93 trillion. It is the first time Apple has passed Nvidia since briefly doing so in late July.
Bloomberg says the selloff came after disappointing results from Intel and Amazon, following weak reports from Alphabet and Meta, which renewed worries about AI spending. Investors moved toward Apple, which has kept a lid on capital spending and largely stayed out of the AI infrastructure race. Bloomberg reports Apple shares are up 27 percent in 2026, more than twice the gain of Nvidia, the second best performer among the largest tech stocks.
The day also saw broad declines across chip stocks, with the Nasdaq 100 closing down about 3.5 percent, according to Yahoo Finance data. Rankings by market value can flip quickly when the two companies are this close.
What to expect next
Watch whether Apple holds the top spot next week, since a 100 billion dollar gap can close in a single trading day. Nvidia's next earnings report will test whether AI chip demand is holding up. If doubts about AI spending keep growing, companies with smaller capex budgets may keep gaining favor with investors over the big builders. Apple's own AI plans, including its updated Siri, will also shape how long its lead lasts.