Apple's market value surpassed the $5 trillion mark for the first time on Tuesday, July 28, highlighting the iPhone maker's role as a safe haven for tech investors amid a sharp sell-off in AI and semiconductor company stocks.
This historic milestone was reached one day after Apple surpassed Nvidia and reclaimed its position as the world's most valuable company, a feat it hadn't accomplished since May of last year.
Apple's stock price has risen about 25% this year. In contrast, Nvidia's stock has retreated from its May peak due to a recent strong wave of selling in the semiconductor sector, accumulating a gain of about 7% for the year.
Unlike many of its Silicon Valley rivals, Apple has largely avoided making large capital investments in AI infrastructure since the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, which triggered a spending spree among cloud computing giants Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Meta.
Meanwhile, Apple is slowly shedding its reputation for lagging behind in the AI race. Initial tests of its redesigned Siri virtual assistant have received overwhelmingly positive reviews ahead of its full launch, scheduled for this year.
Technology investors reacted with apprehension to Alphabet's (Google's parent company) plans — announced last week along with its financial results — to further increase capital spending this year, potentially reaching $205 billion, in addition to reporting negative free cash flow of $5.9 billion.
Global semiconductor stocks plunged on Tuesday as fears intensified about the sustainability of the artificial intelligence boom , ahead of earnings reports from some of Silicon Valley's biggest companies this week.
Shares of American chip and memory companies extended losses from the previous day. Memory giant Sandisk — which had fallen 11% on Monday — plummeted more than 13% on Tuesday. The stock has lost more than 50% of its value this month, but still remains more than four times its value since the beginning of 2026.
Western Digital fell 11%, while Micron and Advanced Micro Devices each declined by about 8%.
Semiconductor stocks, which boosted global markets in the first half of the year — with investors betting that these companies would be the biggest beneficiaries of massive AI investments — have suffered the biggest impact from an intense wave of selling in recent weeks, as many of those bets have been unwound.
