Have you ever watched a stock you love keep climbing to new highs and wondered if you’re already too late to the party? I felt that exact pang last month when Apple briefly touched a four trillion dollar valuation. Then Broadcom did the same thing just days later. Yet here we are in late November 2025, and both keep pushing higher. Turns out the story isn’t over—it’s arguably just getting interesting.
Two Different Giants, One Powerful Theme
The connection between these two companies goes far beyond both trading at all-time highs. They’re linked through the biggest technological shift of our generation: the explosion of artificial intelligence. Apple needs world-class chips to power its future AI features. Broadcom happens to design some of the most important custom silicon that makes modern AI possible. It’s a beautiful symbiotic relationship that’s only getting stronger.
Apple’s Quiet Comeback Nobody Saw Coming
Remember when analysts were writing Apple’s obituary? The iPhone supercycle was supposedly dead. Growth had matured. Then something remarkable happened—the iPhone 17 series launched and completely changed the narrative.
Fresh data now shows Apple on track to ship roughly 243 million iPhones in 2025. That would make them the world’s largest smartphone maker for the first time since 2010, finally displacing Samsung from the top spot they’ve held for over a decade. The difference might seem small—Apple at 19.4% global market share versus Samsung’s 18.7%—but symbolically? It’s massive.
The best products win. It’s that simple. When you combine great hardware with aggressive carrier promotions and trade-in programs, people upgrade. We’ve been saying this iPhone cycle feels different, and the numbers are proving it.
What makes this particularly impressive is how Apple achieved it. They didn’t slash prices or chase the low-end market. Instead, they made their flagship phones feel like incredible value through massive trade-in credits and carrier subsidies. In many cases, customers are walking out with a brand new iPhone 17 Pro for effectively a few hundred dollars after trading in a two-year-old device. That’s powerful psychology.
I’ve spoken with store managers who tell me they’re seeing customers who’ve never upgraded this frequently before. The combination of meaningful camera improvements, dramatically better battery life, and yes—Apple Intelligence features that actually work—created genuine excitement. This wasn’t just another incremental update.
The AI Catalyst Everyone’s Still Underestimating
Here’s where things get really interesting for long-term investors. The current upgrade cycle is strong, but many of Apple’s most compelling AI features haven’t even shipped yet.
Think about what happens when a truly revolutionary Siri finally arrives—one that can hold natural conversations, understand context across apps, and actually get things done for you. Or when visual intelligence features become sophisticated enough that people start using their phones in completely new ways. We’re still early in this transformation.
- Apple has over two billion active devices worldwide
- Most of these users upgrade every 3-4 years on average
- Many AI features will require newer hardware to run locally
- The installed base creates enormous leverage for partners
This last point deserves special attention. Because Apple controls both hardware and software, they become the perfect distribution partner for any company wanting to reach hundreds of millions of affluent customers. They don’t need to build their own massive cloud infrastructure from scratch—they can partner and take a cut. That’s an incredibly capital-efficient way to monetize AI.
Broadcom: The Picks-and-Shovels Winner of the AI Gold Rush
While Apple gets all the consumer attention, Broadcom has quietly become one of the most important companies in artificial intelligence infrastructure. And Wall Street is finally waking up to this reality.
Goldman Sachs just raised their price target to $435—a bold call that sent shares to new all-time highs. Their reasoning? Simple. The big hyperscalers (think Google, Meta, and others) are spending unprecedented amounts on AI infrastructure, and Broadcom sits right in the middle of that spending.
We expect AI revenue to grow over 100% year-over-year in fiscal 2026, with potential for even more if current spending trends continue.
Wall Street analyst note
There are two main drivers here. First, Broadcom’s networking business—the switches and components that connect thousands of GPUs together in AI clusters—has become indispensable. Second, and perhaps more importantly, their custom silicon business has exploded.
When Google developed their latest generation of Tensor Processing Units (the chips that power their groundbreaking Gemini models), they didn’t do it alone. Broadcom was their co-design partner. Every time Google deploys more of these custom chips, Broadcom makes money. And Google is just one customer.
Recent reports suggest even Meta is now considering Google’s TPU architecture for future data centers. If that happens? Another massive tailwind for Broadcom. This is the definition of winning the picks-and-shovels trade in the AI gold rush.
Why the Math Still Works at These Levels
Yes, both stocks trade at premium valuations. Yes, they’ve already had enormous runs. But sometimes the crowd is right for good reasons.
Apple trades at about 35 times earnings—expensive by historical standards, but not crazy when you consider they’re growing revenue in high single digits while generating enormous free cash flow and gradually shifting toward higher-margin services. The company remains one of the most disciplined capital allocators in history.
Broadcom’s valuation looks even more reasonable when you break it down. Strip out the VMware acquisition noise, and the core semiconductor business is growing at an astonishing rate with operating margins that would make most CEOs cry tears of joy.
Perhaps most importantly, both companies have what every great investment needs: a clear path to significantly higher earnings several years from now. For Apple, it’s the continued evolution of the iPhone into an AI-first device with expanding services revenue. For Broadcom, it’s simply that the AI infrastructure build-out is still in its early innings.
The Risks You Can’t Ignore
No analysis would be complete without discussing what could go wrong. Both companies face real risks.
For Apple, the biggest near-term risk remains execution on AI features. If the company continues delivering underwhelming intelligence capabilities while competitors surge ahead, the current upgrade cycle could prove to be a peak rather than a new baseline.
Broadcom’s risks are more concentrated. They’re heavily dependent on a handful of massive customers making enormous capital expenditure decisions. If the hyperscalers suddenly decide to slow AI spending—or worse, bring more chip design in-house—the growth story could decelerate quickly.
Both companies also face the universal risk of trading at elevated multiples during a period of economic uncertainty. Higher interest rates, recession fears, or geopolitical tensions could pressure valuations across technology.
Where We Go From Here
After watching both stocks for years, I’ve learned something important: the best technology companies tend to stay great for longer than anyone expects. Apple has been left for dead multiple times in my investing career, only to come roaring back stronger. Broadcom has successfully pivoted from wireless chips to networking to now custom AI silicon.
The current environment feels different because we’re at the beginning of what could be the most significant platform shift since the smartphone itself. Companies positioned at the intersection of hardware and artificial intelligence—exactly where Apple and Broadcom sit—have structural advantages that will be difficult to disrupt.
Are there better entry points ahead? Almost certainly. Will waiting for them mean missing substantial gains? History suggests yes. The investors who bought Apple at $100, $200, or $300 splits-adjusted all felt they were “late”—yet they did just fine.
Sometimes the most obvious trends are the most profitable ones. Two companies hitting all-time highs while executing exceptionally well in the most important technology transition of our lifetimes? That’s not something I want to bet against.
The party might not be just beginning—but it’s certainly not over either.
