Apple ends day as world's most valuable company, passing Nvidia - CNBC

What the report says

CNBC reported that Apple finished Monday as the world’s most valuable publicly traded company, overtaking Nvidia at the closing bell for the first time since April 2025. The iPhone maker’s shares rose 1%, lifting its market value to about $4.95 trillion, while Nvidia dropped 5% to a valuation of roughly $4.77 trillion amid a broader decline in AI chip stocks.

The shift ended Nvidia’s latest run at the top, which CNBC said began in June 2025 after it surpassed Microsoft. Nvidia, whose graphics processors have been central to the artificial intelligence boom, briefly reached a $5 trillion market capitalization in October. In 2026 to date, CNBC reported that Nvidia shares were up 4%, compared with a 24% gain for Apple.

CNBC framed the market move as part of changing investor views on the cost of building AI infrastructure. Nvidia has benefited from three years of rapid AI-related sales growth, but investors have recently shown concern about heavy spending on data centers and AI buildouts. Apple, by contrast, has been rewarded by some investors for avoiding large capital expenditures on its own AI infrastructure and instead renting computing capacity.

Apple is scheduled to report fiscal third-quarter results Thursday. According to CNBC, investors are watching for the financial effects of a global memory-chip shortage tied to AI demand, which contributed to Apple raising Mac and iPad prices in June. The report also noted investor attention shifting beyond AI processors toward memory and data-center suppliers such as Micron Technology, SK Hynix and Sandisk.