Nvidia has once again surpassed Apple and regained the leadership among the most valuable companies in the world

Nvidia has once again become the most valuable company in the world, after its shares rose by nearly 3%. Meanwhile, shares of Apple fell by 2%, amid investor concerns about its profit margins.

The chip manufacturer has maintained its leadership since June 2025, when it overtook Microsoft, although it has had brief interruptions. Apple had regained the top spot last Friday and held it until Monday.

Apple exceeded forecasts but anticipated higher costs

The iPhone maker reported quarterly results above analysts' estimates. However, the outlook for its profitability in the next period raised concerns in the market.

The main results from Apple were:

• Fourth quarter revenue: US$ 114.5 billion, compared to the US$ 113.4 billion expected.

• Earnings per share: US$ 2.10, above the US$ 1.99 estimated.

• iPhone sales: US$ 57.6 billion, compared to a forecast of US$ 56.6 billion.

During the presentation, Apple’s new CEO, John Ternus, warned about the “unprecedented” costs of the memory used in its devices and anticipated further price increases.

Apple was the first U.S. company to reach valuations of US$ 1 trillion, US$ 2 trillion, and US$ 3 trillion. In October, it briefly overtook Nvidia, even for a few minutes on October 23, coinciding with the market launch of the iPhone Duo.

Nvidia's growth and the artificial intelligence business

Founded in 1993, Nvidia started by developing graphics processing units (GPUs) for video games. With the advancement of artificial intelligence, its chips have become central components for running models of major tech companies.

This shift boosted its revenue, which rose from US$ 27 billion in fiscal year 2023 to US$ 215.9 billion in 2026. The data center business became its main source of income.

• Data center revenue in the second quarter: US$ 89 billion.

• Year-over-year increase: 117%.

• Share of total revenue: approximately 92%.

In September, Nvidia also agreed to acquire Hugging Face, a platform for hosting open-source artificial intelligence models, for US$ 12.9 billion.

Investor doubts about artificial intelligence

Nvidia's growth coexists with questions about investments in artificial intelligence. Major tech companies are allocating hundreds of billions of dollars to infrastructure, while concerns grow about the ability of these expenditures to generate sufficient profits.

These concerns led to sales of tech stocks and also affected Nvidia.

Nvidia expanded its stock buyback program

In September, the company announced an expansion of US$ 150 billion to its stock buyback program. This is the largest additional authorization of this kind in Nvidia's history. The figure surpassed the US$ 110 billion that Apple had authorized to repurchase its own shares in 2024.