Gemini 3 delivers… Google overtakes Apple to become No. 2 by market cap in the US

Up 65% for the year… $4trn in sight

"A signal that leadership is shifting in the AI era"

$0.6trn gap with No. 1 Nvidia

Google has climbed to No. 2 by market capitalization on the New York stock market, overtaking Apple on the back of its next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) model, “Gemini 3.”

On the 7th (local time), Google parent Alphabet closed up 2.52% from the previous day at $322.47. Based on the closing price, Alphabet’s market cap stood at $3.8912trn (about 5,644trn won), surpassing Apple, which fell 0.77% on the day to $3.8470trn.

This marks the first time Alphabet has overtaken Apple in the market-cap rankings since 2019, and the first time it has reclaimed the No. 2 spot since Feb. 26, 2018—about eight years. MarketWatch described the reshuffle as “a signal that leadership is shifting in the AI era.” The market-cap gap between No. 1 Nvidia ($4.5969trn) and Alphabet narrowed to about $600bn. Alphabet’s shares rose 65% last year, outpacing Nvidia (39%). Over the same period, Apple gained just 8%.

Wall Street analysts are broadly positive on Alphabet. Beyond the powerful cash flows from Search, YouTube and the Android ecosystem, Alphabet has secured its own inference chips—Tensor Processing Units (TPUs)—developed in-house rather than relying on Nvidia’s expensive graphics processing units (GPUs). The Gemini AI model is also strengthening its foothold.

Nick Jones, an analyst at BNP Paribas, wrote in a report the previous day that Google is “in an advantageous position to dominate the AI platform market.”

By contrast, Apple has yet to deliver any notable results in the AI race. It has also delayed the launch of its next-generation ‘Siri’ AI service, which had been slated to debut last year.

Choi Man-soo, bebop@hankyung.com