Apple Hits $5T by Sidestepping AI Spending Race
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- Apple shares hit a session high of $342.89 on Tuesday, lifting its market cap to $5.04tn — making it just the second company ever to breach the $5tn threshold after Nvidia did so in October 2025.
- Apple overtook Nvidia as the world's most valuable company earlier this month; Nvidia had held the top spot since June 2025.
- Apple's rally is driven by strong iPhone demand and its decision to skip the AI infrastructure spending race draining rivals' cash flows; the stock is up 24% year-to-date, outpacing every other Magnificent Seven member.
- The milestone arrived during a broad AI stock sell-off — the Nasdaq 100 entered correction territory (down 10%+ from its June high), with Intel, AMD, SanDisk, Western Digital, and Seagate all losing 4%+ on Tuesday.
- Chinese chip competition spooked investors after a report that China began mass-producing homegrown DUV chip-making tools; SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics fell 10%+ in Seoul, while Chinese memory maker CXMT surged 466% on its Shanghai IPO debut.
- Apple launched a US device-leasing program with Klarna (iPhones from $17.99/month) and held iPhone prices steady despite raising MacBook and iPad prices last month, further stoking demand ahead of expected hikes later this year.
- Apple's in-house AI struggles have pushed it to rely on Google's technology for a revamped Siri — sparing it the heavy datacentre costs that have made investors wary of rivals' AI capex.
Why it matters: Apple's $5T mark crystallizes a split in Big Tech: while Nvidia and AI-heavy rivals sink billions into datacentres, Apple's product-and-pricing model delivered the market cap milestone. The Nasdaq 100 sliding into correction territory shows investors are now pricing in real doubt that AI capex will pay off — and Apple's quiet reliance on Google's AI for Siri is exactly what insulated it from that scrutiny. With Q3 earnings due Thursday and analysts projecting a 15%+ revenue jump, the contrast with bleeding chip names couldn't be sharper.
