$4 trillion valuation: Google parent Alphabet joins elite club on AI revival & Apple partnership

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, has entered the exclusive $4 trillion market capitalisation club, underscoring a dramatic resurgence driven by its renewed push into artificial intelligence and growing confidence from Big Tech peers. 

Alphabet shares rose about 1% on January 12 after Apple announced it had selected Google’s Gemini as the foundation for its artificial intelligence models and the next generation of Siri. The endorsement from Apple — itself a technology bellwether — provided a fresh boost to investor sentiment and pushed Alphabet into the exclusive club. 

With the milestone, Alphabet joins Nvidia, Microsoft and Apple as the only companies to have ever crossed the $4 trillion valuation mark. Nvidia and Microsoft first touched the threshold in July, while Apple followed in October. However, both Apple and Microsoft have since slipped well below the $4 trillion level, highlighting the volatility that continues to define the AI-led rally in global equities. 

The rally comes despite mounting competition from OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Sora, which have captured significant consumer attention, and growing concerns over the future of online advertising in an era increasingly shaped by AI chatbots and autonomous agents. For much of the past two years, investors had questioned whether Google’s dominance in search could be eroded by newer AI-first platforms. 

Alphabet has managed to quiet sceptics by stitching together what many see as a credible AI comeback. The company navigated key regulatory challenges last year and accelerated its in-house technology roadmap. In November, Alphabet unveiled Ironwood, the seventh generation of its custom tensor processing units, positioning the chip as a potential alternative to Nvidia’s high-demand AI processors. A month later, Google rolled out Gemini 3, its latest flagship AI model, to strong reviews. 

Together, these moves have helped reinforce the view that Alphabet remains a central force in the AI arms race — and that its most innovative chapter may still be unfolding.