Apple dethrones Nvidia as world’s most valuable company, ending chipmaker’s long run

Apple briefly exceeded Nvidia It regained its position as the world’s most valuable company by market value on Friday.

Nvidia’s shares fell nearly 3%, dropping its market cap to $4.84 trillion in early morning trading. Apple approached $4.88 trillion market value.

The fate of the two companies in 2026 was very different.

The iPhone maker has outperformed the market, rising 22 percent this year as investors reward its AI agenda and capital spending model. Stocks reached new highs this week as well.

Meanwhile, the leading AI chipmaker gained just 7% and remained largely sidelined as Wall Street moved into the memory chip and infrastructure phase of the data center buildout.

This has benefited chipmaking stocks such as: Micron Technology And sandisk.

Nvidia has held the title of the world’s most valuable company since June 2025. Microsoft. In October, the company became the first company to reach the historic market cap of $5 trillion.

That same month, Apple surpassed $4 trillion in market value for the first time following strong iPhone sales.