Apple CEO Tim Cook, left, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
Reuters
Apple and Microsoft shares rose on Tuesday, pushing the companies over a market cap of $4 trillion.
Both companies are still behind Nvidia, which is the world’s most valuable company with a market cap of over $4.6 trillion. Microsoft previously hit the $4 trillion benchmark in July.
Microsoft stock climbed about 3% on news that the company finalized a 27% in OpenAI’s for-profit business. The company has backed the ChatGPT maker since 2019.
The milestone comes as Apple shares have been surging in recent weeks because iPhone 17 models, released in September, appear to be selling better than their predecessors.
Apple shares are up 25% over the past 3 months. It reports fiscal fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday. Microsoft, which is up 6% in the past 3 months, reports earnings on Wednesday.
“Apple shares are heading into the upcoming earnings print with a greater halo of positivity than any time in the past year,” JPMorgan analyst Samik Chatterjee wrote in a Monday note. He has the equivalent of a buy rating on the stock and raised his price target on Monday to $290 per share.
The company also appears to have avoided the worst-case scenarios related to Trump administration tariffs. Apple has moved much of its U.S.-bound supply chain to India and Vietnam while also maintaining a friendly relationship with the administration around U.S. manufacturing.
“Announcement of an increased pace of domestic investment in combination with a rapid shift in product manufacturing for the US market outside of China (India, Vietnam) has improved Apple’s positioning in the tariff landscape,” Chatterjee wrote.
Correction: This story has been updated to state that Microsoft hit the $4 trillion benchmark in July.
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