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Microsoft is just $30 billion away from taking Apple’s crown as the world’s most valuable company, as an AI investment frenzy drives up its inventory prices.
Shares of the Redmond, Washington-based Big Tech rose 0. 5% on Thursday; They are now up 2. 3% so far this year. Apple shares fell 0. 3%, widening their 2024 losses to 3. 6%.
Microsoft rose as much as 1% earlier in the trading session, briefly outperforming the iPhone maker in terms of valuation, before trimming some of those gains later in the day.
Apple’s market capitalization stood at $2. 89 trillion at the close, according to Refinitiv data. Microsoft values $2. 86 trillion. The gap between the two Grand Seven rivals now stands at just $30 billion, the narrowest since November 2021, according to FactSet.
Investors have flocked to AI stocks over the past year, fueling a rally for Microsoft, which has poured tens of billions of dollars into ChatGPT developer OpenAI and seen demand for its Azure cloud computing division soar.
Apple has adopted a more cautious AI technique than its competitors, while Wall Street analysts have also pointed to slowing iPhone sales in China as a potential cause for concern.
Earlier this month, Barclays warned of a slowdown in demand for Apple and downgraded tech stocks to “underweight. “Its downgrade triggered a sell-off that wiped out more than $100 billion in market capitalization in a single day.
Apple and Microsoft have been rivals since the 1980s. Apple has been the most valuable US company in market cap terms since November 2021, with the gap widening to as much as $600 billion in August 2022, according to FactSet data.