Apple became the first U.S. business to reach a US$1 trillion market capitalization in 2018.
Apple crossed the milestone during trading on August 2, 2018, when its share price and outstanding share count combined to produce a valuation of about one trillion dollars. The company had reached that scale through the global success of the iPhone, alongside the Mac, iPad, services, and accessories businesses.
The milestone refers to market capitalization, not cash held by Apple or annual revenue. Market capitalization is calculated by multiplying the share price by the number of outstanding shares, so it changes with the market and can move below or above a round-number threshold.
Apple was also the first public company to pass US$2 trillion in market value in 2020 and US$3 trillion in 2022, although other companies later reached those levels. Its 2018 achievement helped make trillion-dollar valuations a standard reference point in discussions of the world’s most valuable companies.