The shift reflects a broader rotation among tech investors as Wall Street has grown less enthusiastic about companies at the center of the AI buildout
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Nvidia stock fell about 3.5% on Friday, pulling its market value below Apple's. Apple stock held steady to slightly higher. The two companies have followed strikingly divergent trajectories in 2026: Apple is up roughly 22-23% this year, leading all Magnificent Seven members, while Nvidia has added only around 7%.
Nvidia had occupied the top spot on global market-cap rankings since last June, when it overtook Microsoft $MSFT. Apple is reclaiming the top spot for the first time since April 2025. Nvidia became the first company to cross the $5 trillion market capitalization threshold in October.
The shift reflects a broader rotation among technology investors. Wall Street has grown less enthusiastic about companies at the center of the AI infrastructure buildout, with the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index down nearly 19% from its all-time highs. Memory chipmakers have emerged as the bigger winners this year, with Micron $MU Technology crossing $1 trillion in market value in May.
Apple this week also received government approval to roll out Apple Intelligence in China. HSBC upgraded Apple stock to buy from hold, according to Bloomberg, with analyst Nicolas Cote-Colisson writing that Apple "is now at an operational turning point" and is well positioned to leverage its 2.5 billion installed device base.
"Apple was seen as a laggard in the AI race because it wasn't spending to develop models, but now sentiment has changed," Toni Meadows, head of investment at BRI Wealth Management, told Reuters. "Apple is less exposed to capex intensity and better positioned to monetize AI via services, ecosystem lock-in, and hardware upgrades."
The market cap gap between the two companies had narrowed to roughly $190 billion on Wednesday after reports of an expanded iPhone lineup sent Apple stock up nearly 5%. Analysts noted at the time that pressure on chip stocks reflected a sentiment shift rather than any fundamental problem at Nvidia, which posted $81.6 billion in total revenue for its fiscal first quarter of 2027, an 85% increase from a year earlier.
The milestone arrives during a leadership transition at Apple. Chief Executive Tim Cook is set to transition out of the top job in September, passing leadership to hardware engineering chief John Ternus while moving into an executive chairman role. Last month, Apple unveiled a rebuilt version of Siri powered by Google $GOOGL's Gemini technology, designed to be more capable and conversational, with a wider rollout expected this fall.
Google parent Alphabet trails both companies with a market capitalization of $4.2 trillion.
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