Alphabet hit a $4 trillion market valuation on Monday, as the Google parent's sharpened artificial intelligence focus allayed doubts about its strategy and thrust it back to the forefront of the high-stakes race. The tech giant on Wednesday surpassed Apple in market capitalization for the first time since 2019, becoming the second most valuable company in the world. Its new Gemini 3 model has also drawn strong reviews, intensifying pressure on OpenAI after GPT-5 left some users underwhelmed. Google Cloud's revenue jumped 34% in the third quarter, with a backlog of non-recognized sales contracts rising to $155 billion. Alphabet is the fourth company to hit the $4 trillion milestone after Nvidia, Microsoft and Apple .

Source: The Telegraph January 12, 2026 16:47 UTC