New Delhi, July 28 -- SAN FRANCISCO - Thursday is Tim Cook's final earnings call as Apple chief executive. He will speak from the top of the world's market cap hierarchy after Apple passed Nvidia on Monday to reclaim the position of the most valuable publicly traded company - not because Apple launched a new product but because the company declined to spend money in the way its rivals did on artificial intelligence infrastructure, and the market rewarded the discipline.

Apple shares climbed more than 1% in Monday's session, pushing the iPhone maker's market capitalization to approximately $4.94 trillion against Nvidia's $4.83 trillion. The stock has gained more than 22% year to date, outperforming every other company in the Magnificent S...