Two of the biggest tech giants, Meta and Microsoft, recently hit major market cap milestones as part of the ongoing record rally in tech stocks.
Meta’s market cap surpassed the $1 trillion during intraday trading on January 24th, marking the first time the company reclaimed this valuation since 2021. Meta previously hit the $1 trillion mark in September 2021 at the height of its stock’s popularity.
Driving Meta’s soaring stock price is a nearly 200% surge over the past year, as CEO Mark Zuckerberg enacted cost-cutting that included laying off over 20,000 employees. After its stock plummeted to a six-year low in 2022, Zuckerberg has described 2023 as a “year of efficiency.”
Shareholders are bullish on Meta’s focus on expanding its position in artificial intelligence. Last week, Zuckerberg revealed the company is ramping up AI investments, procuring hundreds of thousands of high-powered AI chips from Nvidia. This signals Meta is spending billions to compete in the red-hot AI space.
On the same day Meta topped $1 trillion, Microsoft also briefly surpassed the $3 trillion mark during trading on January 24th. This comes around two weeks after Microsoft temporarily overtook Apple as the world’s most valuable company in mid-January. While Apple has since regained the top valuation spot, Microsoft remains hot on its heels.
Fueling Microsoft’s continued share price gains is optimism around the company’s AI initiatives. Microsoft stock is up over 7% year-to-date amid strong demand for AI capabilities, especially in generative AI.
Analysts predict Microsoft will post a solid earnings beat for its upcoming quarterly report, citing its leadership in enterprise-level AI as a key advantage. Microsoft seems poised to capitalize on the explosion of interest in AI technologies like ChatGPT.
AI Arms Race
The back-to-back market cap milestones from Meta and Microsoft highlight the massive investments pouring into artificial intelligence right now.
With breakout successes like ChatGPT demonstrating new possibilities for generative AI, tech giants are racing to stake their claims. The companies leading development of advanced AI stand to reap substantial rewards.
Both Meta and Microsoft are positioning themselves at the forefront of this AI arms race. In addition to its major chip purchases, Meta recently unveiled its own chatbot project, BlenderBot. Microsoft is integrating generative AI into Bing search and other offerings.
The tech world’s strike into AI looks poised to pay off based on the positive investor sentiment boosting Meta and Microsoft’s valuations. However, the AI hype cycle could eventually lead to a correction for these high-flying stocks.
For now, shareholders seem willing to bet on the transformative potential of artificial intelligence. And the tech giants pouring money into AI research appear ready to capitalize on this enthusiasm.
Big Tech Boosts Markets
Meta and Microsoft reaching new market cap heights also highlights the outsized impact of Big Tech on the broader stock market. The performance of tech stocks is a key factor driving indexes like the S&P 500 to record levels.
Despite some pockets of weakness, optimism around AI and other emerging technologies continues fueling upward momentum. The Nasdaq index, heavily weighted toward tech, rose over 12% in 2023 even as the overall market declined.
This dynamic shows no signs of changing in 2024. Tech stocks led markets higher to begin the year, with the Nasdaq up close to 10% in January as of this writing. Stocks like Meta and Microsoft hitting new milestones reflects their leadership in this rally.
However, extended runs by Big Tech raise risks of overheating and heighten their influence on market swings. With Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet and other tech giants comprising over 20% of the S&P 500, their performance significantly impacts overall returns.
Nonetheless, bullish sentiment toward AI and other disruptive tech breakthroughs appears likely to keep lifting valuations. As giants like Meta and Microsoft position themselves to capitalize on these trends, their gravity on markets looks set to rise.
