Microsoft hit the milestone a second time, while Nvidia marched toward $5 trillion.
Apple on Tuesday became only the third company to break through the $4 trillion market value milestone.
Apple shares rose fractionally in early trading, just enough to briefly push the company’s value above the historic level. It ended the trading day at $3.99 trillion.
Nvidia and Microsoft crossed the $4 trillion threshold in July. Nvidia’s market valuation has grown even more since then, hitting $4.88 trillion as of Tuesday's close.
Microsoft's value rose above the benchmark again Tuesday, at $4.03 trillion, driven by news that the Windows software maker's stake in OpenAI would be worth $135 billion.
Apple has lagged several of its Big Tech peers this year, with fears that its artificial intelligence efforts are coming up short. Apple has gained just 7.5% in 2025, well behind Nvidia’s 50%, Alphabet’s 42% and Meta Platforms’ 28%. For the year, the broad-based S&P 500 has risen 18%.
But Apple’s fortunes have changed in recent months.
In early September, a federal judge ruled that Google did not have to divest its Chrome browser business, which benefited Apple. As part of the ruling, the judge said Google could continue to pay to have its search engine preloaded on devices, such as iPhones. Alphabet currently pays Apple billions of dollars a year to do so.
In mid-September, the company released its newest iPhones. The extra-slim iPhone Air, which briefly faced a delay before customers in China could purchase it, eventually was released and sold out in minutes in the country.
Image: Apple CEO Tim Cook with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Aug. 6.
The negative sentiment regarding Apple among some Wall Street analysts also began turning around in recent weeks.
“Our checks suggest this may be more than the average iPhone refresh cycle, as lead times for the base iPhone 17 continue to outpace last year’s levels,” analysts at Evercore ISI wrote on Monday. “In addition, our survey work points to a strong demand environment."
Multiple other analysts have also upgraded Apple's stock.
To add to the company's good luck, over the course of President Donald Trump's trade war, most Apple products have been exempt from tariffs. Apple CEO Tim Cook has paid Trump multiple visits in the Oval Office and attended a state dinner that King Charles III hosted in the U.K. in Trump's honor last month. On Tuesday, Cook appeared again with Trump in Japan.
Over the last month, Apple has overtaken other major tech companies with a more than 5% gain, well ahead of Amazon’s 3% and close to Nvidia’s 7%. Over the last month, Meta’s shares have returned only 1.5%.
Apple reports earnings on Thursday. Wall Street analysts expect that the company has even more room to run. As of Tuesday, the Wall Street consensus is for the tech giant to report more than $100 billion in quarterly revenue.
