Tech stocks continue to lead the US stock market, with Microsoft's stock price hitting a historic high.
On Thursday, US Eastern Time, Microsoft's stock price rose 3.19% to $348.10, reaching a historic high. It became the third large technology company, after Nvidia and Apple, to reach a new high in market value this year, with a total market value of about $2.6 trillion. So far this year, Microsoft's stock price has risen by 45%, and its market value has increased by about $800.6 billion.
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This week, Microsoft's CFO, Amy Hood, predicted that Microsoft could generate more than $10 billion in revenue annually from its Azure cloud or OpenAI model developers in the field of artificial intelligence.
Hood previously predicted that Microsoft's Azure cloud business would grow by 26% to 27% YoY in the fourth quarter of this year, with 1% coming from AI services. She said, &#34;The next generation of AI business will be our fastest-growing $10 billion business in history.&#34; In the past year, Microsoft has generated nearly $208 billion in total revenue.
Currently, Microsoft is working hard to introduce generative AI features into its suite of products and services, completely transforming its entire Office product lineup, including Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Word. This also aligns with Microsoft's focus on technology implementation. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that it is meaningless to hype technology for the sake of technology, and all these technological transformations are only useful when they make a difference in the real world.
JPMorgan analysts raised Microsoft's target price from $315 to $350. The analysts wrote, &#34;Although like many cloud vendors, Microsoft's cloud business growth rate continues to slow, we believe it has planted the seeds for long-term success in the security business and current forward-looking OpenAI/ChatGPT investments.&#34;
As the largest shareholder, biggest funder, and key technology partner of OpenAI, Microsoft announced in January that it will reinvest $10 billion in OpenAI. To a large extent, Microsoft now has a responsibility to turn the ChatGPT craze into a truly profitable business. Although OpenAI is undoubtedly the hottest startup in Silicon Valley, in many ways, it is more like Microsoft's most promising subsidiary.
According to analyst Kirk Materne from Evercore ISI, Copilots, Microsoft's office application program, may be priced at $10 per month, which could translate into up to $48 billion in additional annual revenue over the next four years. Materne estimates that by 2027, Microsoft's revenue from OpenAI-supported features could reach $99 billion.
Today, Microsoft has disrupted the fixed power structure that has formed in Silicon Valley over the past decade, not only drawing investors' attention back to itself, but also prompting former leading competitor Alphabet-C to catch up. Kim Forrest, Chief Investment Officer and Founder of investment firm Bokeh Capital Partners, said, &#34;Microsoft is undoubtedly the leader in the AI field, and Alphabet-C has been completely surpassed.&#34;
As the market's enthusiasm for artificial intelligence AI continues to grow, technology stocks have had a great start to the year, with a large number of investors pouring funds into stocks that can benefit the most from the AI revolution. Chip giant Nvidia is the biggest beneficiary, with its stock price soaring 192% this year, making it the best-performing stock in the S&amp;P 500 index this year.

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After executives predicted that annual revenue in the field of artificial intelligence would exceed $10 billion, Microsoft's stock price hit a historic high on Thursday, with a total market value of about $2.6 trillion.

After Nvidia and Apple, Microsoft has just hit a new all-time high in history.