Apple beats Microsoft, becomes world’s most valuable company

Apple, once again, has become the world’s most valuable company, surpassing Microsoft as the competition for the top spot intensifies in the tech industry. The development follows the iPhone maker’s announcement of AI features during its annual developer event, Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), earlier this week.Apple’s market capitalisation reached $3.3 trillion by mid-morning on Wednesday (July 12), edging past Microsoft’s $3.2 trillion. A positive reaction from the investors to Apple’s extensive plans for AI integration across its devices pushed shares up over 7% to a record high on Tuesday (July 11).Apple announced plans to integrate generative AI technology across its built-in apps and new devices, offering features like writing assistance and AI-generated emoji, while keeping security as well as privacy at core.Microsoft edged past Apple earlier this yearMicrosoft captured the top spot and has held the title of most valuable company since early 2024. Additionally, Nvidia briefly surpassed Apple to become the second most valuable publicly traded US company.Meanwhile, a report by Kantar said that Apple has reached another milestone by becoming the first $1 trillion global brand. It is followed by Google and Microsoft in second and third spots, respectively.Earlier this year, Alphabet-owned Google also breached the $2 trillion market value mark for the first time since November 2021 after it announced Gemini aI features during its annual Google I/O 2024 conference.How Microsoft may become a beneficiary of Apple Intelligence announcement While this is good news for Apple, Microsoft may benefit from Apple’s AI push. Apple announced the inclusion of OpenAI’s large language models in its offerings, with plans for future models. Microsoft is a major investor in OpenAI and may see continued growth in its Azure cloud services due to increased use of OpenAI models.