Apple Nearing $3T Market Capitalization

Apple Inc. is closing in on a $3 trillion market capitalization, which would make it the equivalent of the world’s fifth-largest economy, just behind Germany, according to a Reuters report on Wednesday (Dec. 8).

The tech giant’s quest to cross $3 trillion in market cap comes slightly more than a year after it hit $2 trillion.

Apple shares need to trade at $182.85 to reach the $3 trillion milestone. The share price sat at just about $174 at 2:15 p.m. ET on Wednesday. Apple’s stock price has gone up about 30% in 2021 after an 80% jump in 2020.

Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet and Tesla have all reached the $1 trillion market capitalization threshold. Apple hit $1 trillion n 2018. Microsoft is currently about $500 billion short of reaching the $3 trillion mark.

Apple gave up its place for a short time as the world’s most valuable company to Microsoft earlier this year, when CEO Tim Cook made comments about the company’s supply chain woes and its struggle to get enough semiconductors and components to make iPhones, iPads and other products.

Related news: Supply Chain Hang-Ups Delaying Apple Product Deliveries

Meanwhile, Apple halted iPhone and iPad assembly for several days in October — usually one of the busiest times of the year ahead of the holiday rush — because of global supply chain bottlenecks and power use restrictions in China.

Apple is millions of units behind its production goals and billions of dollars behind its revenue projections on the iPhone 13 line and new iPads, which were released in September.

Production of the iPhone 13 suite of products dropped 20% short of projections in September and October. Apple said in early December that it was slated to make about 83 million to 85 million iPhone 13 products by the end of the year, well short of the target of 95 million units. The company is still about 15 million units short of its 230 million iPhone target for the year.

Earlier this month, Apple alerted its component suppliers that it is seeing slower demand for its iPhone 13 line of products. The company could still achieve record sales this holiday shopping season, though, with projections for a 6% increase to almost $118 billion in the last three months of 2021.