Apple briefly overtakes Nvidia as most valuable publicly traded company

Additional nervousness was triggered on Friday by a new AI model from Chinese start-up Moonshot AI, which could further intensify competition in the artificial intelligence market. Investors are once again bracing for the possibility that artificial intelligence could be advanced with less reliance on NVIDIA chips than previously assumed.

Most recently, a new Chinese AI model caused a dip in Nvidia's share price – as had happened once before. Chinese AI companies currently only have access to older and less powerful Nvidia chip systems.

The recent price pressure is therefore seen as more connected to a revaluation of the AI sector than to Nvidia's business performance. After the strong rally of recent months, investors took some profits and rotated within the technology sector.

Apple stock benefits from AI offensive

The iPhone maker's stock had risen significantly in recent weeks. One trigger was the new version of the Siri assistant software with artificial intelligence, unveiled in early June. Test users were already impressed.

It will be generally introduced in the fall. In the European Union, the new software will initially not be available on iPhone and iPad. Apple cites data protection concerns related to European demands to open the operating systems to other AI providers.

But recently there has been a weeks-long catch-up rally by Apple. Apple has reclaimed the title of the most valuable company on the stock market after more than a year – at least for a short time. Only a few months earlier, Microsoft had displaced Apple from the top.

Nvidia was at the top for a year

For about a year, Nvidia had been the most valuable publicly traded company thanks to the enormous demand for AI chips. NVIDIA was carried to the top of the stock market by the exorbitant demand for the company's chips used to run artificial intelligence.

The chip company most recently increased its quarterly revenue by more than 85 percent to $81.6 billion. Above all, the data center business benefited from the heavy investments of large cloud providers in AI infrastructure.

On Wall Street, concerns are growing that semiconductor and other tech companies could be overvalued. Sam Stovall of the analysis firm CFRA Research said: "Die Messlatte liegt zu hoch, sodass es nur nach unten gehen kann". Stovall expects investors to shift funds into other sectors.

HSBC upgrades Apple to "Buy"

In a recent analysis, HSBC upgraded the Apple stock to "Buy". They are betting, among other things, on new AI features, a revamped Siri, and the rollout of "Apple Intelligence" in additional markets. The HSBC experts see Apple at an important operational turning point.

There is also speculation about new devices such as a foldable iPhone. Investors are waiting for initial signals about the upcoming iPhone 18 and are paying particular attention to Apple's services business as well as developments in China.

Apple will present its current quarterly figures on July 30, with Nvidia following on August 26. Analysts consider the upcoming quarterly reports to be decisive in the duel for the stock-market throne.

Quarterly figures as the next benchmark

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) had recently raised alarm in the AI sector with regard to NVIDIA. The NASDAQ Composite started in the red on Friday, and the Dow Jones also began the session in negative territory.

On 16.07.26, the Dow Jones closed with losses. The live ticker showed the SMI firmer, the DAX in the red, the US markets mixed with a significantly lower NASDAQ, and Asian markets ultimately in negative territory.

RBC Capital Markets issued an "Outperform" rating for NVIDIA on 21.05.26. Despite the recent setback, the fundamental assessment of the chip company remains positive among many analysts.

Apple is once again the most valuable company in the world – albeit only barely and possibly only for a short time. The race between the two tech giants remains tight.

The dpa report was distributed under the code dpa-infocom with the reference 260717-930-401433/1. The market capitalization data for NVIDIA were timestamped 17.07.2026 16:33:36 on the source page.