Apple makes history as first $3 trillion company amid tech stock surge

Apple Inc (AAPL.O) became the first company in the world to reach a market value of $3 trillion, buoyed by hopes over its expansion in new markets coupled with expectations of a more moderate approach to interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.

The iPhone maker’s advance was among the most eye catching in a month marked by investor interest in the potential of artificial intelligence, with share buyers also particularly favouring companies with strong balance sheets and cash flows.

Apple’s most recent quarterly report in May showing its revenue and profits beat analysts’ expectations, and its track record of stock buybacks, reinforced its reputation as a safe investment during global economic uncertainty.

In a similar vein, electric car maker Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) witnessed a 28% jump in its market capitalization in June.

Tesla’s surge was fuelled by deals struck by rivals Ford Motor Co (F.N) and General Motors Co (GM.N) to gain access to Tesla’s charging network, which could potentially establish Tesla’s chargers as the industry standard.

Elsewhere Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) joined the $1 trillion valuation club last month, as its market cap climbed 11.8%, with investors betting on its potential to become a major beneficiary of a boom in artificial intelligence.

The company’s shares have soared following a revenue forecast that was more than 50% above the Wall Street estimate in May.

Apple and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) led the list of top 20 global companies by market capitalization at the end of June.

By contrast, Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) market cap dropped 2.3% last month to $1.53 trillion, on rising competitive pressures from Microsoft’s Bing which has grown in prominence after the integration of the artificial intelligence behind ChatGPT.

(This story has been refiled to fix a typographical error in paragraph 1)