Apple is the first company to reach a value of US$ 3 trillion

() Apple’s shares were worth $3 trillion as of Friday’s close, making it the only company to achieve that figure.Shares rose more than 2% on Friday to a record high of $193.97. With 15.7 billion shares outstanding, that price catapulted Apple to its all-time market value.

Now, the tech company had hit the mark briefly before: On Jan. 3, 2022, Apple hit the $3 trillion mark during intraday trading, but failed to close on that mark.

Shares of the company closed Thursday at a record price for the third day in a row, but rose just 0.2%. Apple easily broke above the $190.73 level it needed to break above $3 trillion at the market open on Friday.

The sky-high valuation of the tech giant comes on the heels of the risky launch of Apple Vision Pro earlier this month and a better-than-expected quarterly earnings report in May, despite slumping sales and profits.

Vision Pro, due to go on sale next year, impressed tech journalists who got a sneak peek at the augmented reality device. But it enters an incipient market with little acceptance among consumers. Apple plans to charge $3,499 for its headset, which currently has limited apps and experiences and requires users to remain tethered to an iPhone-sized battery pack.

Apple shares have soared 49% this year, buoyed by a broad rise in big tech stocks as investors jumped on the artificial intelligence bandwagon. Nvidia leads the S&P 500 with a 190% increase this year, followed by Meta with 138%.

This year’s stock market success for Apple is in stark contrast to that of 2022. In early 2023, Apple’s market capitalization fell below $2 trillion traded for the first time since early 2021.