Google parent Alphabet is now worth more than Apple, market value flips after 5 years

Google

• Alphabet's market value surpassed Apple's for the first time since 2019
• Alphabet's AI advances, like Ironwood chip and Gemini 3, boost investor confidence
• Apple's slower AI rollout led to a market value dip and a Wall Street downgrade

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Alphabet, Google’s parent company, just had a tiny but historic win over Apple in the stock market. On Wednesday, Alphabet closed with a market value of $3.88 trillion, just ahead of Apple’s $3.84 trillion. It’s the first time since 2019 that Alphabet has been worth more than Apple, and while the gap is small, the moment feels oddly symbolic, a report by CNBC reveals.

The internet latched onto the news instantly, not because of the difference in trillions, but because of what it represents. The tech world is currently split into two timelines: companies that are sprinting into AI, and companies that are carefully marking a launch date on a whiteboard. Alphabet is clearly in the first category. Apple, at least publicly, has been in the second.

Alphabet’s stock rose more than 2 percent on Wednesday, closing at $322.03. Apple’s shares have been falling slowly over the last few days. It lost more than 4 percent over five days, which nudged its valuation down just enough for Alphabet to step ahead. Again, it’s not a dramatic crash or anything, just a shift that tells a bigger story.

And the bigger story is AI. Alphabet ended 2025 on a high, mostly because investors finally saw it doing AI like it meant business. In November 2025, Alphabet launched Ironwood, its seventh-generation AI chip. These chips are used to power AI tools, cloud systems, and other smart tech things that require serious processing. The important bit? It means Alphabet doesn’t have to depend only on Nvidia for AI hardware anymore. It can build its own path, and investors love a self-reliant plot.

Then in December 2025, Google launched Gemini 3, its newest AI model, and the reviews were… nice. Which is rare. Usually, AI model launches come with equal parts praise and public roasting. This one got mostly praise, so yeah, big deal.

The market reacted like someone finally hit play. Alphabet’s shares jumped 65 percent in 2025, its sharpest rise since 2009. Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Alphabet, said the company is just responding to demand. And the demand is clearly there. On the October earnings call, he said Google Cloud signed more $1 billion-plus deals by the third quarter of 2025 than it did in the last two years combined. That’s a fancy way of saying: businesses want Google’s cloud and AI services, and they want it now.

Apple’s AI story hasn’t looked as loud. It was expected to launch a smarter version of Siri last year, but that got delayed. Later, Apple said a “more personal Siri” will launch in 2026. That’s not far away, but in AI timing, it does feel like Apple is warming up while the others are already running laps.

A Wall Street firm downgraded Apple this week, saying growth might be slower in 2026. But let’s be clear: Apple is not failing. It’s just moving slower in AI, and the market is currently rewarding speed, not patience.

So, what does this flip really tell us? That right now, companies doing more AI are looking more valuable. And companies delaying AI launches are looking slightly less shiny on the stock chart.

For Alphabet, it was a good Wednesday. For Apple, a nudge. For the tech world? A reminder that AI isn’t just the future anymore. It’s the scoreboard.