Apple first reached a US$2 trillion market capitalization in 2020.
The milestone was reached on August 19, 2020, when Apple’s shares rose enough for the company’s total equity value to pass US$2 trillion during trading. Apple had reached US$1 trillion only about two years earlier, illustrating how quickly market values can change.
The calculation uses the company’s current share price and its outstanding shares. Apple’s four-for-one stock split in 2020 changed the quoted share price and share count but did not itself create value; the company’s total market capitalization remained economically equivalent immediately after the split.
Saudi Aramco briefly became the first public company valued at US$2 trillion by some intraday measures in December 2019, but Apple is generally credited with being the first company to sustain and publicly achieve the US$2 trillion milestone in 2020. Microsoft later joined Apple above that level.