Alphabet jumps 65% in 2025 to US$4 trillion valuation, edging past Apple in market value
Alphabet’s AI clout just helped it leapfrog Apple and join an exclusive US$4tn club that’s reshaping how investors think about mega-cap tech risk and reward.
Alphabet’s market cap moved above US$4tn on January 12 after the stock closed at US$331.86, making it the fourth company to hit that threshold, according to CNBC.
Its shares have jumped about 65 percent in 2025, the sharpest rally since 2009.
Business Insider said this is also the first time in seven years that Alphabet has overtaken Apple, whose value hovered around US$3.8tn.
The move comes as Apple leans on Google for core AI infrastructure.
Business Insider, citing a joint statement earlier reported by CNBC, said Apple and Google have entered into a multi-year collaboration under which the next generation of Apple Foundation Models will be based on Google’s Gemini models and cloud technology.
Those models are expected to power future Apple Intelligence features, including a more personalised Siri coming this year.
That deal effectively places Alphabet’s Gemini stack at the heart of iPhone‑level consumer AI.
Alphabet’s rally also reflects a regulatory overhang that broke in its favour.
AP News reported that the company reached the US$4tn mark about four months after a US federal judge declined to break up its internet business, even after a ruling that labelled Google’s search engine an illegal monopoly.
Instead, the judge ordered a narrower remedy that investors read as a “slap on the wrist,” helping drive a 57 percent gain in the share price and adding about US$1.4tn in shareholder wealth since the decision.
On the AI product side, CNBC said Alphabet has been “putting together the pieces for its AI comeback,” pointing to its Ironwood tensor processing units and the Gemini 3 model, which drew “rave reviews” in December.
Business Insider reported that the latest Gemini release has “leapfrogged competing models from OpenAI and other rivals that have been trying to chip away at Google’s dominance,” and highlighted Google’s full‑stack advantage across custom chips, cloud infrastructure and distribution through Search and YouTube.
Analysts are leaning into that thesis.
In a January 8 note cited by CNBC, analyst Deepak Mathivanan upgraded Alphabet, saying the “technological advantages of the Gemini assistant app” are underappreciated compared with ChatGPT, and that Google “arguably, has the strongest footprint across several layers in the AI tech stack.”
Citi analysts named Google a top internet pick for their 2026 outlook, estimating that roughly 70 per cent of Google Cloud customers already use its AI products and saying Google has “the chip, the infrastructure capacity, and the model amid growing demand.”
Still, the US$4tn badge sits inside a broader AI trade that has already shown how quickly sentiment can turn.
AP News noted that Nvidia became the first to cross US$4tn in July and briefly topped US$5tn in October before pulling back as AI‑bubble fears grew.
Apple and Microsoft also moved above US$4tn last year but have since slipped below that level, partly on concern that AI spending could overshoot.
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai himself warned that some “irrationality” is present in current Big Tech valuations and said that if AI‑driven enthusiasm fades, “I think no company is going to be immune, including us.”
Bloomberg, looking at the risk‑management angle, reported that the US Securities and Exchange Commission has approved new options expiries for the Magnificent Seven stocks, including Alphabet.
The decision allows Nasdaq to list single‑stock options that expire on Mondays and Wednesdays as well as Fridays.
Nasdaq’s David Barrett said this gives “greater flexibility and precision” for hedging and trading strategies, while the SEC said the change may help investors “better manage their risk exposure.”
