Prime Highlight
- Alphabet has surpassed Apple in market capitalisation for the first time in six years, driven by strong investor confidence in its artificial intelligence push.
- The shift reflects diverging AI strategies, with Alphabet gaining momentum through new AI chips, models, and rapid cloud growth.
Key Facts
- Alphabet closed with a market value of $3.88 trillion, edging past Apple’s $3.84 trillion, as its shares rose more than 65% in 2025.
- Apple’s stock has fallen over 4% in five days, and the company has delayed major AI launches, including its next-generation Siri, now expected in 2026.
Background
Alphabet, the parent company of Google, has overtaken Apple in market value for the first time in six years, reflecting growing investor confidence in its artificial intelligence strategy.
On Wednesday, Alphabet’s market capitalisation closed at $3.88 trillion, narrowly beating Apple’s $3.84 trillion. Alphabet shares climbed over 2% to close at $322.03, while Apple stock has fallen more than 4% over the past five days.
The shift highlights the contrasting paths the two tech giants have taken in artificial intelligence. Alphabet has emerged as one of the strongest performers on Wall Street in 2025 after rebuilding momentum in the AI space.
In November, the company introduced Ironwood, the seventh generation of its tensor processing unit, which many analysts see as a strong alternative to Nvidia’s AI chips. A month later, Google released Gemini 3, its newest large language model, and it received strong early reviews.
These moves helped Alphabet’s shares jump 65% in 2025, giving the company its best yearly rally since 2009. CEO Sundar Pichai has said the company is racing to meet rising customer demand, especially in cloud services. During Alphabet’s October earnings call, he revealed that Google Cloud signed more billion-dollar contracts in 2025 through the third quarter than in the previous two years combined.
Apple, by contrast, has yet to make a major mark in the current AI boom, which started after OpenAI released ChatGPT in late 2022. The company delayed the launch of its next-generation Siri assistant, which was expected last year, and has now promised a “more personal Siri” in 2026.
Wall Street has taken note of the gap. This week, investment firm Raymond James downgraded Apple, warning that the stock may struggle to deliver gains next year.
As investors shift toward companies leading the AI revolution, Alphabet’s rise above Apple signals a changing balance at the top of the global tech industry.
