Apple was the first company to reach a $3 trillion market capitalization, doing so before Nvidia crossed that threshold.
Apple briefly reached the level during trading on January 3, 2022. Its milestone was driven by the scale of the iPhone business, strong customer loyalty, and growing revenue from services such as the App Store, iCloud, and Apple Music.
Nvidia’s later rise was powered by demand for graphics processors and data-center hardware used in artificial intelligence. Although both companies became associated with multi-trillion-dollar valuations, they reached that scale through different business models.
The word “first” refers to the date a company’s market capitalization crossed the threshold, not necessarily to the company with the highest closing valuation on every later date. Intraday share-price movements can alter the order quickly.