Define ‘Boom’ Please

Apple has largely missed out on the artificial intelligence boom that has lifted sales of its technology peers, yet the company's profits and stock value continue to grow. Unlike competitors funneling cash to Nvidia for AI data centers, Apple has avoided that spending, making claims of a missed boom premature since AI has so far been a money pit for the industry.

While I’m linking to pieces on Apple’s CEO transition, here’s an annoying tidbit from Tripp Mickle and Karl Russell’s piece for The New York Times, under the headline “Tim Cook Was Very, Very Good at Making Money” gift link : Even though it has largely missed out on the artificial intelligence boom now lifting the sales of its technology peers, the company’s profits and stock value continue to grow. Which peers have had their “sales lifted” by AI? There’s Nvidia now the most valuable company in the world . But Apple doesn’t compete directly with Nvidia. What makes Apple different from its peer companies isn’t that the others are profiting from AI while Apple is not, but rather that Apple, seemingly alone, is not funnelling its free cash flow to Nvidia https://asymco.com/2026/05/05/will-apple-avoid-giving-their-cash-flow-to-nvidia/ to build out massive AI datacenters. Apple might wind up missing out on something huge as a result of its decision to stay out of this race. But it’s nonsense to say they’ve already missed out on a boom. To date it’s a money pit.