Microsoft's stock surpassed the $3 trillion milestone for the first time on Wednesday, retaining its position as the world's second-most valuable company after iPhone maker Apple.
Microsoft and Apple stocks have been vying for the top spot as Wall Street's most capitalized stocks since the beginning of the year, with the iPhone maker briefly losing that spot to the X-Box owner in early January.
Microsoft stock rose 1.6% to a record high of $405.15, allowing the tech giant to surpass the $3 trillion market capitalization level. Apple shares traded 0.4% higher at $196.04, giving it a market capitalization of $3.03 trillion, according to LSEG data.
On the back of its investment in ChatGPT maker OpenAI, Microsoft is poised to break into a race for market dominance in the deployment of generative artificial intelligence among other tech giants including Google owner Alphabet, Amazon, Oracle and Facebook owner Meta Platforms. He is widely seen as a top candidate.
Microsoft has rolled out a new version of its flagship productivity software product, the Bing search engine, that is expected to leverage OpenAI's technology to make it more competitive with Google's dominant search service.
Meanwhile, Apple is facing weak demand for its iPhones, especially in China. The company is offering unusual discounts to customers to boost sales amid stiff competition from domestic rivals such as Huawei.
Wall Street's bid to catch up to record highs will be tested in the coming weeks as America's biggest technology companies begin reporting their results.
