Apple overtook Nvidia on July 17, 2026, to become the world's most valuable company, with a market valuation between $4.88 trillion and $4.9 trillion [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. Nvidia's market value declined to a range of about $4.82 trillion to $4.86 trillion on the same day [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7].

Nvidia had held the top spot since June 2025 and was the first company to pass a $5 trillion market valuation in October 2025 [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. However, Nvidia lost roughly $1 trillion in market value from mid-May to early July 2026 amid a broad selloff of semiconductor and AI-related stocks due to concerns about AI spending returns and economic risks [7].

Apple's market cap rose about 22% year-to-date before July 17, outpacing Nvidia's 7% gain in 2026 [4]. This shift reflects investor sentiment moving away from AI chipmakers to companies like Apple that monetize AI through services, ecosystem lock-in, and hardware upgrades rather than heavy capital expenditure [1, 2, 3, 5, 7].

Apple recently overhauled its Siri AI assistant in June 2026 to better compete in the AI space [1, 2, 3, 5]. Toni Meadows, head of investment at BRI Wealth Management, said, "Apple was seen as a laggard in the AI race because it wasn’t spending to develop models, but now sentiment has changed. Apple is less exposed to capex intensity and better positioned to monetise AI via services, ecosystem lock-in and hardware upgrades. The re-rating reflects confidence in earnings durability rather than speculative AI upside." [2]

Michael Monaghan, founder of Founder ETFs, added, "Market sentiment has shifted from rewarding model makers, then to semis, and now on to those companies that can turn compute into experiences and outcomes the customer will pay for, thus driving corporate earnings. Apple investors first questioned Apple’s lower AI spend, but now have treated Apple’s lower AI capital expenditure as an advantage, with the bull case being that Apple benefits from consumer AI without spending at cloud-infrastructure scale." [5] He also noted this approach follows Steve Jobs’ idea "of starting with the customer experience and working backwards to the technology needed to deliver the experience." [5]

Apple CEO Tim Cook is preparing to step down in September 2026, with John Ternus set to take over leadership [1, 2, 3, 5].