Apple has reclaimed its position as the world's most valuable company, surpassing Nvidia for the first time in 15 months.
On July 27, local time, Apple shares closed at $336.91, up 1.17% from the previous trading day, bringing its market capitalization to $4.948 trillion. In contrast, Nvidia's stock fell nearly 5% to $196.51, reducing its market cap to $4.756 trillion.
This shift in rankings is attributed to growing investor caution regarding the massive capital expenditures and profitability of big tech companies in the AI sector. Apple, once criticized for lagging in AI investments, is now being reevaluated as a company that has avoided significant spending burdens.
Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta are projected to spend $724 billion on AI this year, with estimates rising to $950 billion next year. Instead of heavily investing in its own AI infrastructure, Apple has managed to reduce costs by utilizing Google's AI models and cloud services.
Jay Woods, chief market strategist at Freedom Capital Markets, told Yahoo Finance, "Apple was once criticized for not investing more in AI, but that has allowed it to avoid several pitfalls related to capital expenditures."
Daniel Newman, CEO of Futurum Group, stated in an interview with The New York Times, "People view AI-related stocks as highly volatile, and Apple is seen as akin to holding an index. It is regarded as a kind of 'safe asset.'"
Apple's return to the top spot in market capitalization comes about a month before CEO Tim Cook is set to step down. John Turnus, the senior vice president who will take over in September, has stated his intention to maintain the financial discipline that has been a hallmark of Cook's tenure.
Apple held the title of the world's most valuable company for over a decade before losing it to Microsoft in April of last year. Following a surge in demand for AI semiconductors, Microsoft briefly ceded the title to Nvidia about two months later. Nvidia's market capitalization surpassed $4 trillion in July of last year and exceeded $5 trillion for the first time in October. It reached an all-time high of $5.7 trillion on May 14 of this year but has since declined, allowing Apple to reclaim the top position.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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