Apple’s market capitalization first exceeded $1 trillion in 2018. The milestone occurred on August 2, 2018, when Apple became the first publicly traded U.S. company to reach that valuation. Its share price briefly moved above the threshold during intraday trading before closing at a market value of roughly $1.002 trillion.
Market capitalization is calculated by multiplying a company’s share price by its outstanding shares. It is not the same as annual revenue, profit, cash reserves, or the total value of Apple’s products and services. Because share prices change constantly, market capitalization can cross a milestone temporarily and later fall below it.
Apple’s achievement followed years of growth driven by the iPhone, expanding services such as the App Store and iCloud, strong profits, and share repurchases. A common mix-up is confusing Apple’s $1 trillion milestone with later milestones: Apple reached $2 trillion in 2020 and $3 trillion in 2022. Another nuance is that PetroChina briefly reached a trillion-dollar valuation in 2007, but Apple is generally recognized as the first U.S. publicly traded company to reach it.