Apple created the Nasdaq-100's first $1 trillion market-cap milestone in 2018.
Apple's shares crossed the threshold on August 2, 2018, making it the first public company in the world to achieve a $1 trillion valuation. Because Apple was listed on Nasdaq, the milestone also became a defining moment for the exchange and its technology-heavy Nasdaq-100 ecosystem.
The Nasdaq-100 tracks 100 of the largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market. It is not identical to the entire Nasdaq exchange, and it is not the same as the S&P 500. Apple has been a major constituent because of its enormous equity value and the scale of its technology business.
The milestone followed years of growth in iPhone sales, App Store activity, services, and consumer-device demand. It also showed how a company's market cap can become much larger than its annual sales or physical assets, because investors price expected future earnings into the stock.