NEW YORK — Apple became only the second company in history to reach a $5 trillion market valuation on Tuesday. Investors moved their money into the iPhone maker while pulling out of artificial intelligence and semiconductor stocks.
Apple stock jumped to an all-time high of $342.89 during daily trading. That pushed its total market value to $5.04 trillion before shares settled back down right around the $5 trillion mark.
The surge comes as major tech companies face heavy selling pressure. Apple jumped ahead of chipmaker Nvidia earlier this month to reclaim its position as the most valuable public company on Earth. Nvidia was the first business to pass the $5 trillion threshold in October 2025.
Wall Street is treating Apple as a safe haven. While rivals spend huge amounts of cash on data centers and artificial intelligence gear, Apple has stayed out of the expensive spending race.
That decision protected Apple’s cash reserves while other tech giants burned through money. Google sparked market fears last week after reporting negative free cash flow of $5.9 billion for the second quarter. Google also announced it was expanding its 2026 artificial intelligence spending plan up to $205 billion.
Semiconductor stocks plummeted sharply across global markets. Intel, Advanced Micro Devices, Sandisk, Western Digital, and Seagate Technology all fell more than 4% on Wall Street. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 dropped as much as 1.8%, sliding more than 10% below its June peak into a technical market correction.
In Asia, South Korean chipmakers SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics both tumbled over 10%. That drop dragged South Korea’s main stock index to its lowest point since mid-April.
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Wall Street analysts point to three major worries behind the sell-off:
- Rising Debt: Companies are borrowing heavily to build massive data centers.
- Circular Funding: Artificial intelligence firms are using complex loops to fund each other.
- New Competition: Reports revealed that China started mass-producing its own deep ultraviolet (DUV) chip-making equipment.
Apple took a different approach to technology upgrades. Instead of building expensive internal models from scratch, the company partnered with Google to power new tools like a redesigned Siri assistant.
Strong buyer demand has also pushed stock prices higher. Apple held iPhone prices steady last month while raising prices on MacBooks and iPads. Customers rushed to buy new phones before planned price increases hit later this year.
To keep phone sales strong, Apple teamed up with payment firm Klarna on Tuesday to launch a US device leasing program. Customers can now rent an iPhone starting at $17.99 a month, an iPad or Apple Watch for $11.99 a month, or a Mac for $24.99 a month.
“Apple has resisted the AI spending race, betting that customer experience – not infrastructure investment – will ultimately determine the winners,” said Dipanjan Chatterjee, a vice-president and principal analyst at Forrester. “The new leasing programme is a clever response: it doesn’t reduce the price of an iPhone, but it changes how consumers perceive the cost by replacing sticker shock with a predictable monthly payment.”
Apple stock has gained 24% so far this year, outperforming every other member of the “Magnificent Seven” tech group. The company presents its third-quarter earnings report on Thursday after the market closes, with Wall Street forecasting a revenue surge of more than 15%.
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