MS briefly regains top spot ahead of Apple... ongoing back-and-forth continues

Closing Price: Apple Overtakes MS Again
Ranking Battle Continues Since February 2019

Microsoft (MS) briefly surpassed Apple to become the most valuable company by market capitalization during trading hours.

On the 11th (local time), The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that MS's stock price rose in the New York stock market, pushing its market capitalization to $2.87 trillion (approximately 3,781 trillion KRW). Meanwhile, Apple's stock price fell by about 1%, causing its market capitalization to drop below MS's. This marked MS's return to the top spot in market capitalization on the New York Stock Exchange for the first time in about 2 years and 2 months since November 2021.

However, MS's stock price later turned downward again, and by the close of trading, Apple had overtaken MS. Since February 4, 2019, Apple and MS have alternated in competing for the top market capitalization position on the New York Stock Exchange.

Although the period at number one was brief, experts analyze that MS's market capitalization surpassing Apple this time was due to growth in the cloud computing services sector. Additionally, MS recently committed to investing over $10 billion in OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). Furthermore, the recent appointment of MS Vice President Dee Templeton to OpenAI's board of directors and the partnership with OpenAI, securing a favorable position, are also interpreted as positive factors contributing to the stock price increase.

Tom Hancock, head of asset investment at asset management firm GMO, said, "MS is showing its presence in all areas of global information technology (IT). If you have to invest in the IT sector, you should definitely choose MS."

Meanwhile, Apple is striving to survive in the AI competition despite various setbacks, including the poor performance of the iPhone 15 series. The upcoming iPhone 16 series, scheduled for release in the second half of this year, will feature an 'on-device AI' function that operates on the smartphone without network connectivity. Additionally, attention is focused on the success of the mixed reality (MR) headset 'Vision Pro,' which is set to launch on the 2nd of next month.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.