Apple was the first tech giant to reach a $3 trillion market capitalization. It crossed the milestone during intraday trading on January 3, 2022, when its share price briefly rose above the level needed to value the company at $3 trillion.
Market capitalization is calculated by multiplying a company’s share price by its total number of outstanding shares. It is not the same as annual revenue, profit, cash reserves, or the company’s physical assets. Apple’s valuation reflected investor expectations about the iPhone, services such as the App Store and Apple Music, and its broader hardware ecosystem.
The milestone came less than two years after Apple became the first company to reach $2 trillion and about three and a half years after it first passed $1 trillion. The stock later slipped below the threshold that day, so reports may distinguish between briefly reaching $3 trillion intraday and closing above it.
A common mix-up is confusing Apple with Microsoft or Saudi Aramco. Those companies have also reached enormous valuations, but Apple was the first publicly traded company to touch the $3 trillion mark.