Microsoft, this fourth fiscal quarter has surpassed Apple as the world’s most valuable public company. At market close, Microsoft had a market cap of nearly $2.49 trillion, while Apple’s stood at $2.46 trillion. Apple says that it lost billions of dollars due to supply chain constraints. Apple also says the lack of chips being supplied from Southeast Asia will affect its holiday sales quarter too.
This isn’t the first time since Microsoft has overtaken Apple as the world’s most valuable company. It last topped the market cap in mid-2020 when supply chains were wrecked due to the pandemic.
Microsoft’s also have earned positively from its cloud products, Office and Windows. But to continue to grow at the same pace, it will have to pay more attention to growth from its cloud divisions too.
At the recent Microsoft Ignite Fall 2021, CEO Satya Nadella focused and spoke about five key topics. He spoke about unveiling 90 new services and updates will be up to help customers innovate. He addressed topics like AI, security, Identity, team collaboration, and metaverse.
- Artificial Intelligence: He introduced a new Azure Open AI service. It brings the power of GPT3 with the enterprise capability of Azure.
- Security: The world is facing a huge data security theft. In this age of global digitalization, cybercrime is a huge threat that the world is facing. A company needs tools to protect its clients from online theft.
- Identity: Microsoft plans to build a system of the future. This system will enable apps, organizations, people, and even smart things to make real-time decisions.
- Team Connect: Microsoft is concentrating on advancing its Teams Connect function. Here companies can seamlessly connect with external parties like customers, suppliers, and partners.
- Metaverse: At Ignite, he spoke about metaverse and how Microsoft will participate in it actively. He said the metaverse gives them the power to bring the real world into the digital or virtual world.
