Apple Becomes the Most Valuable Public Company in the U.S.

Apple overtook Microsoft on Thursday to become the now most valuable publicly traded company in the U.S. Announcements at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference, including generative AI features for the iPhone, boosted shares.

As of Thursday’s close, Apple’s market capitalization was about $3.29 trillion, surpassing Microsoft’s $3.28 trillion. Apple shares rose 0.6% on Thursday and are up 8.8% so far this week. Microsoft shares rose 0.1% on Thursday.

The iPhone maker’s comeback comes just a week after Nvidia overtook it on June 5 to become the second-largest publicly traded company in the U.S. Nvidia is currently in third place behind Microsoft.

Apple on Monday announced a partnership with ChatGPT developer OpenAI to develop some features for its phones. The partnership is likely to give the company a much-needed boost, but Apple’s collaboration with a company and technology that has yet to gain public trust has drawn criticism, especially since user input is included in ChatGPT’s dataset. This could raise privacy concerns down the line for a company that has long prioritized user security and anonymity.

Still, a big push into AI could boost iPhone sales and services growth in the coming years as users wait longer to upgrade their devices and an uncertain economic environment weighs on consumers, especially in China. The company is also under regulatory scrutiny in Washington state.