Apple reclaimed its position as the world’s most valuable publicly traded company on Friday, overtaking Nvidia as investors increasingly favoured firms expected to generate long-term revenue from artificial intelligence.
Apple’s market valuation rose to approximately $4.88 trillion, while Nvidia’s market capitalisation slipped to about $4.86 trillion after its shares fell 3.5%. Apple had previously held the top spot before being surpassed by the AI chipmaker earlier this year.
The shift reflects changing investor sentiment as markets increasingly reward companies seen as capable of monetising AI through products and services rather than relying primarily on semiconductor sales. Apple has also benefited from renewed confidence in its AI strategy, including planned improvements to Siri and deeper integration of artificial intelligence across its ecosystem.
Analysts noted that Apple is less exposed to capital-intensive AI infrastructure spending and is better positioned to generate recurring revenue through services, ecosystem lock-in and hardware upgrades. The company is also preparing for a leadership transition, with Chief Executive Tim Cook expected to hand over the hardware division to John Ternus in September.
Despite losing the top spot, Nvidia remains a major beneficiary of the AI boom, with its graphics processors continuing to power many generative AI systems. Analysts believe the company will remain a key player as AI adoption expands across industries.
