Apple crosses $5tr market cap for first time, bucking Nasdaq selloff

Apple became the first US company to close with a market capitalization above $5 trillion, setting the record even as a broad selloff in AI-related technology stocks sent the Nasdaq into a sharp decline.

Apple shares closed up 0.50 percent at $342.96 on Wednesday in New York trading, pushing its market capitalization to $5.005 trillion — the first time it has closed above that threshold.

The milestone came on a day when the Nasdaq Composite tumbled 1.88 percent and weakness spread across the broader market, making Apple's gain all the more striking.

Apple is only the second US-listed company to close above a $5 trillion market cap, after AI chipmaker Nvidia.

Apple's market capitalization had touched the $5 trillion mark intraday on six previous occasions, but Wednesday marked the first time it held above that level at the close.

The record comes roughly six weeks after John Ternus succeeded Tim Cook as CEO in late August.

Over Cook's 15 years at the helm, Apple's market capitalization grew 13-fold. Annual iPhone sales roughly quadrupled, and revenue from its services business expanded from about $10 billion to more than $100 billion a year.

In recent years, Apple has taken a different path from rivals that have poured vast sums into AI data center investment, instead keeping capital expenditure in check and focusing on iPhone and device sales alongside its high-margin services business.

However, the Wall Street Journal noted that strengthening Apple's AI competitiveness remains a key challenge for the new CEO.

Apple revamped its Siri voice assistant with a generative AI foundation developed in partnership with Google and unveiled the updated version in June, but the system is still widely seen as lagging behind rivals' AI offerings in performance.

The prospect of intensifying competition in Apple's core hardware market has also emerged as OpenAI pursues development of its own AI device.