Washington, United States (Enmaeya News) — Microsoft reached a $4 trillion market valuation on Thursday, becoming the second publicly traded company after Nvidia to surpass that milestone following a strong earnings report highlighting its success in artificial intelligence (AI).
The robust financial results from Microsoft and Meta Platforms also boosted shares of Amazon and pushed chipmaker Nvidia to a record high, as the four leading AI-driven companies collectively added over $500 billion in market value.
According to LSEG data, Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta now make up about one-quarter of the S&P 500 index.
Microsoft announced a record $30 billion capital spending plan for the first quarter of its fiscal year to meet rising AI demand. The company reported significant growth in its Azure cloud services and revealed its Copilot AI tools have surpassed 100 million monthly active users.
Shares of Microsoft rose as much as 8%, closing up 4.5% on Thursday.
Gerrit Smit, lead portfolio manager at Stonehage Fleming Global Best Ideas Equity Fund, said, “Microsoft is evolving into a profitable cloud infrastructure leader and enterprise AI innovator, generating strong cash flow despite heavy investments in AI.”
Meta Platforms also reported impressive AI-driven growth, forecasting quarterly revenue that exceeded Wall Street expectations by a wide margin. The company credited AI for boosting its core advertising business.
Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, first hit a $1 trillion market value in 2019. Its rise to $3 trillion was steady compared to the rapid growth of Nvidia and Apple, with Nvidia tripling its value in roughly a year and reaching $4 trillion on July 9. Apple’s current valuation stands at approximately $3.12 trillion.
Positive developments in U.S. trade negotiations ahead of President Donald Trump’s August 1 tariff deadline helped lift stocks, driving the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes to new records.
Microsoft’s large investment in OpenAI is transforming its Office Suite and Azure cloud offerings with advanced AI, contributing to a doubling of its stock price since the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022.
This quarter’s capital expenditure forecast marks Microsoft’s largest ever for a single quarter and could see it outspend competitors over the next year.
Meta recently raised the lower end of its annual capital spending by $2 billion, following a similar increase from Alphabet, signaling intensified competition in the race to lead AI technology.
Amazon shares rose 2% ahead of its quarterly earnings report. Nvidia gained 0.8%, pushing its market capitalization to a record $4.4 trillion.