(Reuters) – Apple became the world’s most valuable company once again on Wednesday, dethroning Microsoft (NASDAQ:) from the top spot, as the iPhone maker surged ahead in the race for artificial intelligence technology supremacy.
Its shares rose more than 2% to $211.75, giving it a market valuation of $3.25 trillion. Microsoft’s market capitalization was $3.24 trillion, lagging behind Apple for the first time in five months.
Shares of Apple (NASDAQ:) hit an all-time high in the previous session, a day after it unveiled a raft of AI-enabled features and software improvements for its devices that several analysts say will boost iPhone sales.
At Apple’s annual developer conference on Monday, executives including CEO Tim Cook touted how the Siri voice assistant will be able to interact with messaging, email, calendar, as well as third-party apps.
The tech giant has caught up with rivals like Microsoft and Google owner Alphabet (NASDAQ:) in the red-hot artificial intelligence field, which is why its stock has underperformed its peers this year.
Apple shares are up about 10% so far in 2024, with Microsoft adding about 16% and Alphabet adding almost 28%.
Some concerns about the company’s feeble stock performance eased after Apple beat market expectations for quarterly results and guidance in May and unveiled a record $110 billion share repurchase plan.
AI chip leader Nvidia (NASDAQ:), which briefly surpassed Apple’s market value last week, is up as much as 144% this year. Nvidia last had a market value of $3.06 trillion.
Tesla (NASDAQ:) is the only other company in the Magnificent Seven group that has performed worse than Apple this year, down more than 30%.
