Apple briefly reclaimed the title of the world’s most valuable publicly traded company on Friday, overtaking Nvidia as investor confidence in the company’s artificial intelligence strategy continued to grow.
According to the Financial Times, Apple’s market capitalisation briefly moved ahead of Nvidia during trading before the two companies finished the day almost level. By the close of trading, Nvidia remained narrowly in front with a market value of approximately $4.908 trillion, compared with Apple’s $4.902 trillion.
The shift came as Nvidia shares fell during a wider technology sell-off following the debut of a new artificial intelligence model from Chinese AI company Moonshot. The launch prompted renewed questions among investors about the pace of AI infrastructure spending across the technology industry.
Apple’s shares, meanwhile, remained largely unchanged, reflecting growing confidence that the company can expand its AI ambitions without matching the enormous spending commitments made by rivals including Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta.
Investor sentiment towards Apple has improved significantly in recent weeks. The company’s stock has climbed around 20% since late June, helped by optimism surrounding its next generation of Apple Intelligence features and the introduction of a redesigned Siri experience announced at WWDC26.
Analysts also believe Apple’s vast installed base of more than 2 billion active devices gives the company a significant advantage as it rolls out new AI capabilities across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and other products.
The Financial Times also noted that Apple is spending considerably less on capital expenditure than many of its rivals, with the company investing only a fraction of the amount being committed by major AI infrastructure providers. Some investors see that more measured approach as reducing financial risk while still allowing Apple to benefit from growing demand for artificial intelligence.
Separately, analysts at HSBC upgraded Apple’s stock, saying the company is well positioned to benefit from its upcoming Apple Intelligence rollout and an increasingly strong product roadmap, which is expected to include the first foldable iPhone and a refreshed range of Macs over the coming years.