Apple reclaims top position among global companies with $5.03 trillion valuation, surpassing Nvidia

Apple surpassed Nvidia to reclaim the title of world's most valuable company by market capitalization, reaching a valuation of $5.03 trillion in Friday's session, compared to $4.93 trillion for Nvidia, which declined 4.2%. This marks the first time Apple has moved ahead of Nvidia since the end of July.

This comes amid a violent sell-off in technology stocks, which drove the Nasdaq Composite to its largest single-day decline since June. The Nasdaq 100 approached technical correction territory, falling 3.5% in the same session, closing October with a loss of 6.7%—its worst monthly performance since March 2025. The Nasdaq Composite closed at a level 7.8% below its record high.

Apple's ability to reduce its capital expenditure on artificial intelligence infrastructure has helped preserve its free cash flows, which are expected to rise 38% to $142 billion in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2025. By contrast, companies such as Alphabet and Amazon have been forced to borrow due to elevated artificial intelligence spending, burdening them amid rising interest rates.

Apple shares have climbed 27% since the start of 2025, leading the performance of the major technology "Magnificent Seven" group, more than double Nvidia's gains in the same period.

Meanwhile, Intel and Reddit shares collapsed 29% in Friday's session, while SanDisk lost 13%. Intel's October losses exceeded 45%, marking the company's worst monthly performance in more than four decades. CoreWeave and Nebius shares slid more than 30% during the same month.

Capital Economics economist John Higgins pointed to growing investor concern over escalating reliance on external financing to cover artificial intelligence infrastructure expenses, noting that investors are increasingly worried about the scale of major corporations' investments and their funding mechanisms.