$Apple(AAPL)$ Apple was once seen as lagging in the AI race. Now it looks more like a winner, and without spending heavily on capex. Apple's capex-to-revenue ratio is just 2.5%, well below the 10%+ seen at most mega-cap peers.

While competitors burn cash on AI infrastructure and investors question whether those investments will pay off, Apple is taking a different path.

It plans to monetize AI through its massive existing customer base. Apple now has over 2.5 billion active devices, up from 2.35 billion a year ago, a gain of 150 million devices in one year. That installed base puts Apple in a good position to benefit from the shift toward agentic AI applications, where users need a trusted platform to handle identity, authentication, and payments. Few platforms can match Apple on that front.