Apple Overtook Microsoft As The World's Most Valuable Company
This temporary surpassing of Microsoft highlights the intense rivalry among leading technology companies in the AI sector.
Apple has reclaimed its title as the world's most valuable company, surpassing Microsoft in market valuation. The iPhone maker's stock surged nearly 4% to a record high of $215.04 on Wednesday, elevating its market capitalization to $3.29 trillion. In contrast, Microsoft's market cap settled at $3.24 trillion.
Apple's stock experienced a surge following the keynote at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on Monday. The company disclosed a detailed AI strategy, which encompasses the integration of generative AI technology throughout its native apps and devices. This strategy introduces features like sophisticated writing assistance and AI-generated emojis.
Although Apple was behind Microsoft and Alphabet earlier in the year, its robust quarterly earnings and the announcement of a significant $110 billion stock repurchase plan in May have bolstered investor confidence. Consequently, these elements have led to a 12% increase in Apple's stock price in 2024.
Market analysts at Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America have reacted favorably to Apple's AI initiatives. In their communications to investors, they conveyed a strong belief that the new AI features, known as Apple Intelligence, will catalyze a significant increase in iPhone sales.
"Limiting Apple Intelligence to iPhones sold in the past year reinforces our belief that AI will initiate an iPhone super cycle," stated analysts at Evercore, emphasizing the anticipated heightened demand for the most recent iPhone models.
This temporary surpassing of Microsoft highlights the intense rivalry among leading technology companies in the AI sector. Earlier this year, Microsoft overtook Apple in market capitalization, and more recently, Nvidia briefly claimed the title of the second-most valuable public company in the U.S., outpacing both Apple and Microsoft.
Microsoft stands to benefit from Apple's AI advancements as well. Apple announced it would incorporate OpenAI’s large-language models into its devices, with more models to be integrated over time. Microsoft, a significant investor in OpenAI, has seen substantial growth in its Azure cloud services due to the adoption of OpenAI's models.
