Apple briefly overtakes Nvidia as most valuable company

What happened: Apple briefly became the world's most valuable company on Friday 17 July 2026, as Nvidia shares slid on AI valuation worries. By the close, Nvidia had reclaimed the top spot.

The numbers: Nvidia fell as much as 4.6% in the first 30 minutes of trading, dropping below $4.8 trillion, while Apple rose to roughly $4.9 trillion at its peak. Reuters put the gap at $4.88 trillion for Apple against $4.86 trillion for Nvidia after a 3.5% Nvidia drop. By the close, Nvidia had recovered to just over $4.9 trillion, about $6 billion ahead of Apple, according to Bloomberg.

The context: It was the first time Apple had held the top spot since April 2025. Nvidia was the first company ever to pass $5 trillion in market value.

Why it matters: Apple is up almost 23% this year, with investors favouring its AI plans and its relatively low spending on data-centre infrastructure. Nvidia is up just 9% as money rotates into memory chips and other data-centre suppliers amid broader unease about AI stock valuations.

Who's affected: Apple's climb has been helped by record highs, an HSBC upgrade to "buy" citing new AI features, and strong reviews of the redesigned Siri, according to Al Jazeera.

The rivals: The brief swap underlines a live market debate: whether AI profits will flow mainly to the companies selling the chips, like Nvidia, or the companies that own the devices people actually use, like Apple.

What's next: Tim Cook is preparing to hand the Apple CEO role to hardware chief John Ternus in September.