Microsoft Hits Record High as AI Investments Pay Off

Microsoft Hits First Record Since July as AI Halo Takes Hold

Microsoft Corp. shares rose to an intraday record on Thursday, taking out an all-time high that's stood for nearly a year as investors increasingly see the software giant as a major winner with artificial intelligence. Shares rose 1% to $468.49, eclipsing a peak hit in July. The record is the latest example of a pronounced rebound in the stock, which has climbed more than 30% off an April low. The rally has added more than $800 billion to Microsoft's market capitalization, and at $3.48 trillion, it is one of the two biggest companies in the world, neck-and-neck with Nvidia Corp., another central winner of the AI era.

Microsoft's stock hits fresh record, rallying despite drop in broader market

Shares of the software giant rose 0.8% to close at $467.68. Microsoft has once again reclaimed the title of world's largest company by market cap, with a valuation of $3.48 trillion. Nvidia has a market cap of $3.42 trillion, and Apple is valued at $3 trillion. Microsoft last recorded a record close in July 2024. The stock is now up 11% for the year, while the Nasdaq is flat. Tech stocks broadly dropped on Thursday, led by a plunge in Tesla, as CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump escalated their public beef. Musk, who was leading the Trump Administration's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) until last week, has slammed the Trump-backed spending bill making its way through Congress, a spat that has turned personal. But Microsoft investors appear to be tuning out that noise. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella focused on his company's tight relationship with artificial intelligence startup OpenAI in an interview with Bloomberg, some portions of which were published on Thursday. "Why would any one of us want to go upset that?" he told Bloomberg. Nadella told analysts in January that OpenAI had made a large new commitment with Microsoft's Azure cloud. In total, Microsoft has invested nearly $14 billion in OpenAI.

Microsoft stock just hit a record high as it cashes in on the AI boom

Microsoft (MSFT-0.92%) stock just clocked an intraday record on Thursday ($468.49), a milestone that caps off the company's aggressive AI moves -- and even more aggressive expectations. Wall Street isn't just rewarding Microsoft for showing up to the AI race, it's pricing in a future where the company leads the pack. The surge marks the company's biggest high since July 2024 and follows a series of announcements that signal how deeply AI is baked into Microsoft's business. Recently, the company has laid out a massive infrastructure plan, unveiled custom AI chips for Azure, and kept investors buzzing with sharp revenue growth across its cloud and productivity divisions. In many ways, Microsoft's stock high isn't just about AI -- it's about the company's ability to industrialize it. The AI narrative isn't new, but Microsoft is increasingly making it look real. While Google (GOOGL-1.57%) is experimenting and Amazon (AMZN-2.87%) is largely building behind the scenes, Microsoft is out there productizing -- and monetizing -- faster than most expected. GitHub Copilot is gaining traction. Microsoft 365 is increasingly AI-native. Azure has become the go-to cloud for businesses that want ready-to-go AI tools. Microsoft had a rocky start to the year (a 10% decline from its July 2024 peak) but it's rebounded sharply, thanks largely to strong cloud growth -- Azure revenue jumped 33% in the 2025 fiscal third quarter -- and continued momentum in AI integration. Now, Microsoft's stock is up about 12% year-to-date (and 30% since April of this year), easily outperforming fellow tech giants such as Apple (AAPL-0.39%), Amazon, Alphabet, and Nvidia (NVDA-1.54%). The recent rally has added over $800 billion to Microsoft's market capitalization, and the company's performance positions it as one of the more stable, high-conviction bets in a tech sector that is increasingly divided between hype and execution. Earlier this year, Microsoft committed to spending $80 billion in fiscal 2025 -- most of it on AI-enabled data centers. That's a figure that suggests CEO Satya Nadella sees AI as Microsoft's cloud moment all over again. And the market seems to agree. Behind the rally, analysts are circling with revised playbooks. The average analyst price target shows almost double-digit potential over the coming year. And some analysts predict that Microsoft's AI initiatives could bring in over $10 billion annually.