 "Apple, Tim Cook")
Representative image: Tim Cook, CEO of Apple
Apple on Wednesday once again became the world’s most valuable company, dethroning Microsoft from the top spot, as the iPhone maker advances in the race to dominate artificial intelligence technology.
Its shares jumped nearly 4% to a record high of $215.04, giving it a market valuation of $3.29 trillion. Microsoft’s market capitalization stood at $3.24 trillion, behind Apple for the first time in five months.
The stock rally comes as the tech-heavy Nasdaq hit a record high following fresh signs of slowing inflation.
Apple shares were up more than 7% in the previous session, a day after unveiling a range of AI-based features and software improvements for its devices, a move that several analysts said would boost sales of iPhone.
At Apple’s annual developer conference on Monday, executives including CEO Tim Cook touted how the Siri voice assistant would be able to interact with messages, email, calendar, and more. ‘with third-party applications.
“All these questions about how far behind Apple is from an AI technology perspective were answered at the Worldwide Developers Conference,” Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities, told Reuters. Los Angeles.
“Certain features of the AI capabilities that will be built into the next iPhones have made it clear that there will clearly be demand for a significant upgrade cycle.”
The tech giant lags behind rivals such as Microsoft and Google-owner Alphabet in the hot area of AI, which is why its shares have underperformed this year compared to its peers.
Some of the concerns about its stock’s weak performance eased, however, after Apple beat market expectations for quarterly results and guidance in May and unveiled a record $110 billion buyback plan.
Apple shares are up about 12% so far in 2024, while Microsoft’s is up about 16% and Alphabet’s is up almost 28%.
AI chip leader Nvidia, which briefly surpassed Apple’s market value last week, is up 154% this year.
Nvidia last had a market value of $3.11 trillion.
Tesla is the only other stock in the Magnificent Seven that has performed worse than Apple this year, down about 30%.
First publication: June 13, 2024 | 10:03 a.m. STI
