Two years ago the surprise came and Nvidia overtook Apple becoming the most valuable company in the world for the first time. Since then the title has changed hands on several occasions, although Nvidia has retained it practically uninterrupted since mid-2025: good times are going on for Jensen Huang’s team, with stratospheric benefits thanks to the AI race in which he is one of the great beneficiaries.
But last night, in just a few hours, a company that is not going through its best moment: sue OpenAI for theft of trade secrets, immersed in full transition of its CEOwith a talent drain and lagging behind in AIonce again emerged as the most valuable company on the planet despite all of the above. Surpass from Apple to Nvidia. Although fleeting, this reorganization of the ranking of the technological giants constitutes a warning to sailors about the expectations placed on AI.
what has happened. During the Friday session and how AOL collectsApple was valued at $4.88 billion, above Nvidia’s $4.86 billion, which fell 3.5%. It was a hit and miss: at closing, Nvidia’s capitalization reached 4.92 billion, thus barely surpassing Apple’s 4.89 billion. Fleeting but significant: Apple returned to the throne for the first time since April 2025.
Why is it important. Beyond the stock market anecdote, this turmoil reflects a change in the narrative about who truly benefits from the AI boom. One of the large and immediate direct beneficiaries is Nvidia and its leadership reflects this.
Toni Meadows, Chief Investment Officer at BRI Wealth Management, declares for Reuters that Apple is less dependent on capital spending intensity and is better positioned to monetize AI through services, the closed ecosystem and hardware upgrades. Nvidia rises with certain fluctuations because it is directly exposed, but Apple is better positioned to reap its rewards with less risk.
Context. Nvidia has just broken historical records: in October it became the first company in the world to exceed a valuation of $5 trillion: it looked down on the rest of the magnificent seven. The reason? Chips for AI. Apple, on the other hand, has earned the label of lagging behind: it does not invest in its own models and is laying all its eggs in Google basket. However, in 2026 there is an increase of 20% so far this year.
In detail. The catalyst for this movement has been Siri: last month Apple got its act together and renewed its assistant with the new Siri AI. It arrived late to the party, but it starts from a privileged position compared to some rivals and new startups: the personal data that each iPhone and the ecosystem houses. Of course, you have to discover how to take advantage of that information without compromising the privacy of users.
The future. What happens from now on will depend on whether Apple manages to turn the promise of monetization into tangible results. Or what is the same: if the new and late Siri manages to stand up to Gemini in the Android ecosystem or compete in features with ChatGPT.
For Nvidia, the future involves demonstrating that the colossal spending on AI infrastructure by its clients (hyperscalers such as Microsoft, Google or Amazon) continues to translate into large orders for chips, and that the bubble of an investment that, for the moment, does not offer a sufficient return does not burst. The next quarterly results will be the best thermometer to verify if this rotation of investors towards those who monetize AI with less risk is consolidated.
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