On Monday, June 10, 2024, Apple CEO Tim Cook delivered the keynote address at the company’s annual developers conference event at its headquarters in Cupertino, California. During his speech, Apple announced its plans to push into artificial intelligence (AI), which resulted in the company surpassing Microsoft to become the most valuable company in the world.
As of about 10:45 a.m. ET on Tuesday, Apple’s market cap reached $3.3 trillion, exceeding Microsoft’s market cap of $3.2 trillion. Investors responded positively to Apple’s AI plans, with shares surging more than 7% to a record high on Wednesday. The momentum continued into Thursday’s session with shares rising about 4% at the start of the trading day.
Apple’s new AI features, known as Apple Intelligence, generated excitement among analysts from Morgan Stanley, Evercore, and Bank of America. They believe that these features will drive users to purchase new iPhones, potentially leading to an iPhone super cycle. The company’s decision to restrict Apple Intelligence to iPhones sold within the last year adds to analysts’ confidence in the technology’s potential.
Despite the competition from other tech giants such as Google and Amazon, Microsoft is likely to benefit from Apple’s AI ambitions. Apple announced that it would provide OpenAI’s large-language models as a feature for its users, with more models to be added over time. As one of OpenAI’s largest investors, Microsoft is positioned to leverage this partnership and strengthen its position in the AI marketplace.
With Apple’s announcement of its plans for AI integration into its products and services, it seems that there is no stopping this tech giant from continuing its reign as one of the most valuable companies in the world today.
