Apple closed at a record high on Monday, pushing its market capitalization to roughly $4.94 trillion and widening its lead over Nvidia after reclaiming the top spot last week. Shares have climbed more than 22 percent year to date ahead of fiscal third-quarter earnings due Thursday.
Nvidia fell nearly 5 percent, trimming its valuation to about $4.78 trillion, after reports emerged that it is negotiating a $250 billion investment with OpenAI for a data center project in southern Ohio that could ultimately exceed $500 billion. Nvidia had held the most-valuable title since June 2025 and briefly topped $5 trillion last October.
The leadership change also looms: Tim Cook will step down as CEO on Sept. 1 to become executive chairman, succeeded by John Ternus.