Microsoft and Apple have been competing for the title of the world’s highest market value for many years. Benefiting from its investment in OpenAI and its leading position in the generative AI field, Microsoft’s stock price has risen over 60% in the past year, surpassing Apple’s in the US stock market on the 11th.
(A brief summary:
Use ChatGPT for free on mobile phones! Microsoft launches Copilot App, supporting voice, text, and image editing.)
(Background information:
The New York Times accuses OpenAI and Microsoft of “copyright infringement”: ChatGPT steals millions of news articles.)
Table of Contents
Microsoft benefits greatly from AI investment
Apple’s weak demand is viewed negatively
Can Vision Pro become Apple’s next killer product?
Tech giant Microsoft saw its stock price rise 2% in the US market on the 11th, pushing its market value to $2.903 trillion, surpassing Apple and reclaiming the top spot as the world’s highest-valued company for the first time since 2021!
However, Microsoft’s closing gain narrowed to 0.3%, with a market value of $2.859 trillion, while Apple fell 0.3% with a market value of $2.886 trillion, and the market value gap between the two could cross again at any time.
Historical changes in market value of Apple and Microsoft. Image source: Reuters
Reuters reports that Microsoft and Apple have been competing for the top spot in market value for many years. However, Apple’s stock price has been weak since early 2024, while Microsoft’s stock price has risen significantly since last year. This is due to Microsoft gaining an early advantage in the generative AI field through its investment in OpenAI, the developer of the AI chatbot ChatGPT.
Gil Luria, an analyst at investment bank D.A. Davidson, said:
Microsoft has incorporated OpenAI’s technology into its own suite of productivity software tools, which is expected to drive a rebound in its cloud computing business from July to September.
In contrast, although Apple has been working hard to cope with weak demand (particularly for its cash cow, the iPhone), its demand in the Chinese market has declined significantly as the Chinese economy slowly recovers from the pandemic and Huawei regains market share.
Brokerage firm Redburn Atlantic downgraded Apple’s stock investment rating to “neutral” in a report released on Wednesday, believing that China may drag down Apple’s performance in the coming years. Within less than two weeks since early 2024, at least three of the 41 analysts tracking Apple have revised their investment ratings downward.
Apple’s first virtual head-mounted device, Vision Pro, will be launched in the United States on February 2. This can be said to be Apple’s most revolutionary new product since the launch of the iPhone in 2007, and the company has high expectations for it. However, the initial price of the device is $3,499, making it difficult for many people to afford.
Further reading:
Apple’s Vision Pro to be launched in the US on 2/2, could ignite a metaverse craze?
Analysts also estimate that Vision Pro will have limited contribution to Apple’s revenue in the initial stage. UBS released a report on Monday predicting that Vision Pro will generate approximately $1.4 billion in revenue, which is relatively insignificant compared to Apple’s hardware annual revenue of around $300 billion.
Related Reports
Bitcoin to reach $250,000 by 2024! Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tim Draper: BTC potential rivals Microsoft
The era of AI wearable devices has arrived! An overview of Google, OpenAI, Microsoft, Meta, and Apple…
Crisis for NVIDIA! Microsoft, OpenAI, Google… Large-scale model companies “self-producing” AI chips.