Key Points
– Enthused by artificial intelligence, Apple momentarily regained its position as the most valuable business in the world.
– In early trading on Wednesday, the company overtook Microsoft and reached a market worth of $3.244 trillion; however, this did not hold until the close.
– After rivals Google and Microsoft revealed their AI plans, investors had been waiting for Apple to do the same for a while.
Following its announcement of its push into artificial intelligence during its developer’s conference address on Monday, Apple momentarily overtook Microsoft on Wednesday to become the most valuable business in the world.
As of roughly 10:45 a.m. ET, Apple’s market capitalization of $3.3 trillion had surpassed Microsoft’s $3.2 trillion market capitalization. That was not the case, though, as Microsoft emerged victorious at the final chime.
Following their review of Apple’s ambitious plans for artificial intelligence across its range of products, investors sent the company’s shares soaring more than 7% to a record high on Tuesday. Shares gained a further 2.8% on Wednesday as a result of this enthusiasm.
Apple revealed that generative AI technology will be integrated into both its native apps and its newest devices, including capabilities like emojis created by generative AI and writing assistance.
Analysts from Morgan Stanley, Evercore, and Bank of America stated this week in investor notes that Apple’s new artificial intelligence (AI) features, dubbed Apple Intelligence, will encourage people to purchase new iPhones. Evercore analysts noted, “Apple Intelligence’s restriction to iPhones sold within the last year adds to our conviction that AI can help kick off an iPhone super cycle.
“There’s a competition for supremacy. Earlier in the year, Microsoft’s market capitalization exceeded Apple’s. Nvidia briefly overtook Apple to take the second place as the most valuable publicly traded US business earlier this month.
Microsoft is probably going to benefit from Apple’s AI aspirations as well. The manufacturer of iPhones declared that its users would have access to OpenAI’s large-language models as a feature, with more models to be added eventually. One of OpenAI’s biggest backers is Microsoft, whose Azure cloud services have grown recently due to the models’ widespread usage.
