On Monday, July 28 (local time), Apple Inc. (AAPL.O) surpassed NVIDIA (NVDA.O) to regain its position as the world’s most valuable company by market capitalization at the closing bell. This marks Apple’s first return to the top spot since April 2025. On that day, NVIDIA’s stock price dropped nearly 5%, bringing its market value down to $4.77 trillion. This decline came amid investor concerns over the substantial costs associated with AI infrastructure development, which contributed to broader underperformance across the AI chip sector.

In contrast, Apple’s stock rose by 1%, elevating its market value to $4.95 trillion ahead of its highly anticipated earnings report, scheduled for release after the market close on Thursday. Since overtaking Microsoft to become the world’s most valuable company by market capitalization in June 2025, NVIDIA had maintained this leadership position, even briefly reaching a $5 trillion market value in October of the same year.

However, NVIDIA’s stock has only increased by 4% since the beginning of 2026, while Apple’s has surged by 24%. Apple’s prudent approach to AI-related capital expenditures—prioritizing leased computing power over building proprietary infrastructure—has garnered investor approval.