Apple shares are standing out in the U.S. stock market as volatility grows in artificial intelligence-related stocks. Analysts say the company's strategy of keeping its distance from AI spending while prioritizing financial stability is drawing investor interest.
Apple stock has risen 15% since the end of June, the strongest showing among the Magnificent Seven group of U.S. mega-cap technology companies, Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported on the 17th. Over the same period, Amazon gained 4% while Alphabet, Google's parent company, fell 3%. Apple closed at $332.41 on the 16th, up 0.32% from the previous session.
What stands out is a shift in how the stock moves relative to major indexes. According to Nikkei, the 30-session average correlation coefficient between daily moves in Apple shares and the Nasdaq 100 has fallen sharply this year, turning negative from late July, meaning the two now move in opposite directions. As of the end of last week, the coefficient stood at minus 0.1. That indicates Apple is diverging from the other Magnificent Seven companies. It is an unusual pattern given that Apple accounts for roughly 7% of the Nasdaq 100 and is regarded as a bellwether for the index.
Market participants see Apple as relatively resilient to concerns about excessive AI investment and to high interest rates. Apple's failure to produce notable results in AI had been seen as a weakness for a company once considered a leading innovator, but with warnings of an overheated market, that has instead worked in its favor. Taro Iida, who manages U.S. equities at Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management, said the firm is reducing its weighting in semiconductor-related stocks and fine-tuning its asset allocation toward Apple and healthcare shares. That groups Apple with healthcare stocks, which are typically defensive plays.
Apple's cash flow, a chronic concern for hyperscalers, is also solid. Nikkei said that U.S. mega-cap technology companies were once a group that generated enormous cash with limited facilities, but are now pouring money into AI-related capital spending on a scale likened to an arms race. Alphabet posted negative free cash flow, a measure of cash available for discretionary use, in the April-June quarter of 2026. Apple, by contrast, is expected to report free cash flow of $141.4 billion for this September, up 40% from the prior period, according to QUICK and FactSet. The gap reflects Apple's strategy of drawing on other companies' technology in AI development rather than insisting on building everything in-house.
There are still hurdles to further gains in the stock. Surging demand for data center memory has driven up prices, raising the cost ratio on hardware products and squeezing margins. The foldable iPhone unveiled on the 9th of this month also carries a higher price than its predecessor, raising the possibility that some consumers will walk away. Attention is also turning to whether innovation can be sustained under John Ternus, an engineer by background who has taken over as chief executive from Tim Cook.
Sueyuki Oyama, senior market analyst at Matsui Securities, said the focus under the new management will be on research and development, investment strategy and the effectiveness of hardware innovation.
Weighing a Return to the Enterprise Server Market After 18 Years
Apple is also pushing ahead with technology development. The Information reported on the same day, citing sources, that the company is weighing a return to the enterprise server market after 18 years and is in talks over adopting Nvidia's server interconnect technology.
Apple has been discussing building server clusters based on its own M8 Ultra chip using NVLink Fusion, Nvidia's open server interconnect technology.
The clusters, in two-chip and four-chip configurations, would target the AI inference market, with a launch targeted for 2029, according to the report.
The plans are at an early stage and could be scrapped, the outlet said.
A return to the server market would come about 18 years after Apple discontinued its Xserve server line in 2011. People involved in the project said it largely failed at the time because of the company's lack of interest in the enterprise server market and inadequate customer support.
