US tech giant Apple reclaimed the title of the world's most valuable company, overtaking AI chipmaker Nvidia. Apple's market value reached $4.88 trillion, while Nvidia's fell 3.5 percent to $4.86 trillion. The move put the iPhone maker at the top for the first time in more than a year.
Nvidia had become the most valuable company in October, surpassing a $5 trillion market value. Apple, meanwhile, last month introduced a new Siri AI assistant that better understands users' personal context, pulls real-time information from the web, and can perform complex tasks.
Michael Monaghan, founder of Founder ETFs, told Al Jazeera that the market's focus is shifting from model makers to companies that can turn computation into customer experience. "Apple investors initially questioned the company's low AI spending, but now they see it as an advantage. There is an optimistic picture that Apple can benefit from consumer AI without spending at the scale of cloud infrastructure," Monaghan said.
The company's rise came ahead of its third-quarter earnings report, scheduled for release on July 30. Apple executives had forecast sales growth of between 14 and 17 percent last quarter.
Apple had lagged behind rivals in the AI race and introduced the advanced Siri last week. But analysts believe the treasure trove of personal data stored on a typical iPhone could be a major advantage for the company's AI ambitions. "This is a natural extension of Apple founder Steve Jobs' philosophy of starting with the customer experience and working backward to the technology needed to deliver it," Monaghan added.
Apple is also set for a senior management change. CEO Tim Cook is expected to hand over the reins in September to John Ternus, who has led hardware engineering since 2021.
Pressure on Nvidia comes amid growing competition in the semiconductor sector. Micron surpassed a $1 trillion market value in May, while South Korea's SK Hynix also began trading on the Nasdaq in May. "New entrants could broaden the focus beyond just the so-called 'Magnificent Seven' big tech companies," Benjamin Hall, vice president of alpha research at Segal Marco Advisors, told Reuters.
Despite Apple's rise, the broader market trend was downward. The tech-heavy Nasdaq index fell 1.6 percent at midday, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.9 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.25 percent from Friday's open.
