Apple on Tuesday briefly hit a market capitalization of $5 trillion for the first time, a day after passing Nvidia to become the most valuable publicly traded company.
Shares of the iPhone maker reached a session high of $342.89 on Tuesday before settling at $340.08, putting the market cap just below the $5 trillion threshold. The stock is up roughly 25% year to date, outpacing its mega-cap peers.
The milestone comes amid a notable shift in investor sentiment. While the hyperscalers — Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft — are collectively pouring hundreds of billions into AI capital expenditures this year, Apple has kept spending low and is leveraging cloud infrastructure and AI technology from Google. Investors are increasingly favoring Apple's capital-light approach as concerns mount that aggressive AI spenders are raising debt and going cash-flow negative without clear returns.
The jockeying between Apple and Nvidia reflects a deeper debate about the future of AI that has preoccupied markets all summer. Nvidia became the first company to hit $5 trillion in October 2025, but its stock has gained only 6% this year. Apple, by contrast, rallied despite price hikes on devices resulting from the global memory shortage.
On Tuesday, Apple also announced Upgrade, a new program allowing US customers to lease iPhones and other products instead of buying outright. The move comes as Tim Cook prepares for his final earnings call as CEO on Thursday, with John Ternus set to take over on September 1.
Apple becomes only the second company in history to reach a $5 trillion valuation, underscoring the extraordinary scale of today's technology giants.
