On January 7th, a pivotal moment unfolded in the U.S. stock tech sector: Google's market capitalization eclipsed Apple's for the first time since 2019, securing the second spot in the U.S. stock market value rankings.

This shift means that the global market value landscape now features NVIDIA, Google, and Apple as the top three contenders.

Over the past year, Google has emerged as one of Wall Street's most dazzling tech stocks, with its share price soaring nearly 65% cumulatively throughout the year, outpacing the seven major tech giants in the U.S. stock market. Now, less than two months after surpassing Microsoft to enter the top three market values, Google has once again caught up with and overtaken Apple, demonstrating a strong drive to claim the global top spot. For Apple, this represents a significant setback or perhaps a dangerous omen.

As Google completed its remarkable comeback in the AI race within just three years, Apple's progress in this competition appears even more sluggish and lagging. More importantly, this is not merely a shift in market values.

Innovation 'Makes a Comeback'

The shift between Google and Apple primarily stems from their divergent AI strategies and the current gaps. Reflecting on the entire tech sector, the evolving landscape among the world's major tech giants is largely attributed to AI.

In 2024, when news surfaced that Apple and Google were actively negotiating to integrate Google's Gemini large model into the iPhone, Google, under the 'sniper' attack from the Microsoft-OpenAI alliance, seemed slightly behind in terms of both the pace of model product releases and the determination for strategic integration. Alongside Apple, which had been slow to make significant moves in the AI race, they were perceived as 'struggling peers' in Silicon Valley. However, no one anticipated that by 2025, Google's full commitment and pursuit would yield noticeable results in a very short time.

Google unveiled the Gemini 3 large language model, Nano Banana image generation model, Veo3 video generation model, and TPU chips, blossoming comprehensively across various fronts and regaining the technological edge. Meanwhile, this technological advantage is truly reflected in Google's business, driving significant growth in its performance.

Conversely, Apple's lag in the AI competition has almost become an established fact.

For a long time, Apple, as the pioneer of the mobile internet era, has firmly held the 'global number one' position. However, with the current shift in market values, from a macro perspective, this may signify the transition between the old and new eras of the tech internet, shifting from the 'mobile internet era' centered on hardware ecosystems to the 'intelligent era' centered on computing power and hardcore technologies. This change may also be accompanied by a reshuffling of influence.

Therefore, at this juncture, AI has naturally become the core engine driving market value growth. With AI achievements comes market imagination; without them, market imagination fades.

But is this just a judgment in the capital market? The answer is no. This shift in market values can be seen as a successful reflection of Google breaking traditions and returning to innovation, offering enlightening value to all tech giants.

Looking back over the past decade or so, as tech giants have firmly 'dominated' key areas such as social media, search, and smart hardware, long-term 'domination,' vast core interests, and the spread of bureaucracy within companies have gradually shown signs of 'aging.' Google has been at the center of doubts for years due to its perceived loss of innovation, especially after the advent of ChatGPT.

At the end of 2022, ChatGPT emerged and completely ignited the global tech wave. As outside attention and praise were poured onto a startup, criticism also surged towards Google like never before. People complained that Google had transformed from an industry pioneer to a follower, and its once-proud innovation label was replaced by 'mediocrity.' In fact, Google has hardly launched any particularly successful products in the past decade.

However, no one expected that it would force OpenAI to raise a 'red alert' internally through its AI technology counterattack and now even achieve a comeback in market value against Apple.

This splendid 'comeback' has allowed the outside world to see a rejuvenated Google again.

The Tech War Ultimately Boils Down to a Talent War

From being severely threatened by OpenAI to posing a serious threat to OpenAI, Google's successful comeback has been a spectacular 'show' in the entire tech sector.

Why can Google make a comeback? Is it due to the founder's return, organizational reform, or an AI full-stack approach? These factors are all indispensable, but the most crucial one may still be the aggregation of talents.

Over the past few years, as Google has become a mediocre large company, its attractiveness and cohesion to talents, once considered the most ideal workplace in Silicon Valley, have gradually diminished. Especially with the massive layoffs in 2023, the outside world once believed that Google's core AI talents had been depleted. For a simple example, when Elon Musk announced the establishment of xAI, among the 12 members revealed, seven had previously worked at Google or its subsidiary DeepMind.

To recall 'veterans,' Google implemented a 'Boomerang Plan.' It was precisely these 'veterans' who formed the core force enabling Google to regain the initiative in the AI race.

The most typical representative is Noam Shazeer. In 2024, Google paid a licensing fee of up to $2.7 billion to Character.AI to bring back Noam Shazeer and his team to DeepMind. Upon his return, Shazeer was appointed as the co-leader of the Gemini project. It's worth mentioning that Shazeer left Google precisely because Google refused to launch his chatbot project. Since ChatGPT ignited this race, Google has been extremely embarrassed.

It is reported that among the AI software engineers hired by Google in 2025, about 20% are so-called 'returning employees,' a significant increase compared to previous years. Meanwhile, a Google spokesperson confirmed that the number of AI researchers from major competitors has increased compared to 2024.

The influx of returning talents has given Google great confidence, while Apple is experiencing a talent 'crisis,' which is attributed to significant internal turmoil at Apple, especially facing the transition between old and new leaders. The major overhaul of the management team may prevent Apple from gaining an advantage in this talent competition.

In December, Apple announced that John Giannandrea, the senior vice president responsible for AI and machine learning strategy, would 'retire' in the spring of 2026. Shortly after, Alan Dye, the vice president of user interface design at Apple, also announced his departure. He would join Meta as the chief design officer at the end of the year. A few days later, foreign media reported that Johny Srouji, the senior vice president of hardware technology responsible for the chip business and considered one of Apple's most respected executives, had discussed departure matters with Tim Cook and indicated that he was considering leaving Apple soon.

From senior management to key engineers, Apple's talent drain is not limited to the artificial intelligence business sector but spans almost all key areas.

For example, Ruoming Pang, the head of Apple's AI model, as well as key technical personnel such as Jian Zhang (the head of AI robot software), Tom Gunter, and Frank Chu, have all jumped ship to Meta. Alan Dye's departure also took away Billy Sorrentino, the top interface leader. Additionally, OpenAI has poached dozens of engineers from Apple involved in multiple fields such as iPhone, Mac, camera, and display technologies.

At a critical moment when the AI competition among giants is intense, the talent drain may further hinder Apple's pursuit in the AI era, posing an even more unfavorable situation for Apple, which is already lagging behind.

Sense of Crisis

If Google gradually became risk-averse and conservative due to long-term stable and vast interests, leading to its mediocrity, then its current revitalization is largely attributed to the rise of OpenAI, which has made it sense a crisis.

On November 30, 2022, ChatGPT emerged and surpassed one million users in just five days and 100 million in two months. Google internally directly raised a 'red alert,' and Sundar Pichai even recalled the two co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who had retired for many years, to participate in high-level meetings.

Why did Google treat it as a major threat? Not only because Google, always regarded as a top enterprise in the artificial intelligence field, was 'outpaced' by a startup leading the technological wave but also because the sudden leap in generative AI posed an immediate threat to search. Initially, people speculated whether large models would replace search engines and become the primary way for users to obtain information in the next decade.

An unprecedented sense of crisis drove Google to shift from 'slow' to 'fast.' This transformation and the accumulated technological achievements over the years provided the conditions for today's comeback.

However, unlike Google, the technological wave of generative AI and the multiple trends it has brought, such as humanoid robots and intelligent agents, have not directly threatened Apple's core business. Even later, the integration of AI technology with smartphones stimulated phone manufacturers to pursue AI phones. However, to this day, no true AI phone has emerged that can compete with Apple based on AI capabilities, let alone other AI hardware.

In 'The Innovator's Dilemma,' Clayton Christensen discusses why some well-managed large companies fail. A significant reason is that they encounter challenges from disruptive technological innovations. After establishing a leading advantage, successful companies are more inclined to stay in their comfort zones and adopt continuous innovations to maintain their advantageous territories. However, disruptive technologies represent a completely new growth curve, and leading companies often become sluggish in the face of new technologies and are subsequently disrupted.

Apple has indeed remained in its comfort zone for a long time and lacks a sense of urgency from its rivals. However, the question lies in whether AI is a disruptive technology that can bring about transformation in the smartphone sector.

It is reported that Craig Federighi, Apple's software head, has been reluctant to make large-scale investments in the artificial intelligence field because he does not believe that artificial intelligence is a core function of personal computers or mobile devices. Although the AI competition among tech giants is becoming increasingly fierce, forcing Apple to accelerate its AI layout, how to leverage AI technology for breakthrough innovations in the software and hardware ecosystem of phones may still be an uncertain direction for Apple.

Google's counterattack in the AI race has, to a certain extent, benefited from OpenAI's exploration of a path in generative AI. However, there is no 'OpenAI' in front of Apple.

From a strategic perspective, Google has fully committed to an AI full-stack layout, while Apple has missed the window for the AI competition. When AI becomes the core driving force for market value growth, its market value being surpassed is expected. Nevertheless, from a long-term perspective on AI technology development, the current situation may only be a fleeting moment.

Whether it's Google or Apple, neither may be able to sustain their lifelines indefinitely.

Dao Zong You Li, formerly known as Wai Dao Dao, is a new media outlet in the internet and tech circles. This is an original article, and any form of reprinting without retaining the author's relevant information is prohibited.