Apple, which does not develop its own large language models, has gone from being seen as a laggard in the AI race to being rewarded by investors for its cautious approach and strong iPhone sales.
Apple reclaimed the title of the world's most valuable company on Friday, overtaking Nvidia as investors grew more confident in its AI strategy.
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Shares of Nvidia were down as much as four percent as worries about the valuation of artificial intelligence equities dogged the market, giving the company a valuation of about $4.8 trillion (€4.2 trillion), slightly below Apple's $4.9 trillion (€4.3 trillion).
The company later clawed back the losses, with Apple and Nvidia trading neck and neck for the top spot.
Nvidia's stock has soared more than 1,200% since January 2023, climbing from a split-adjusted $14.86 (€13.00) to about $205 (€179.30) by mid-July 2026. The company carried out a 10-for-1 stock split in June 2024.
Nvidia became the world's most valuable company in 2025, driven by the AI boom sparked by the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022.
Originally designed for video games, Nvidia's graphics processing units (GPUs) have become the core hardware used in AI data centres to train large language models developed by companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Google.
In recent weeks, however, analysts have begun questioning whether the massive investments in Nvidia's chips and software will pay off as new AI products reach the market.
Those questions have intensified as ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and rival Anthropic, two of the most valuable private companies in history, having filed to go public.
Meanwhile, investor confidence in Apple confidence in Apple has strengthened in recent weeks, pushing its shares up about 20% since late June. Apple also unveiled a redesigned version of Siri, receiving broadly positive early reviews.
