Apple became the world's most valuable company again on Wednesday, ousting Microsoft from the top spot as the iPhone maker surged ahead in the race to dominate artificial intelligence technology.

Its shares rose nearly 4% to a record high of $215.04, giving it a market capitalization of $3.29 trillion. Microsoft's market capitalization is $3.24 trillion, falling behind Apple for the first time in five months. The stock rally came as the tech-heavy Nasdaq hit a record high on fresh signs of slowing inflation. Apple shares rose more than 7% in the previous session, a day after the company unveiled a series of artificial intelligence features and device software improvements that several analysts said would boost iPhone sales.

At Apple's annual developer conference on Monday, executives including CEO Tim Cook outlined how Siri, the voice assistant, can interact with Messages, email, calendars and third-party apps."All these questions about Apple being behind from an AI technology perspective were answered at WWDC," said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles. "Some of the AI features that will be included in the upcoming iPhones make it clear that a major upgrade cycle is definitely needed."The tech giant lags behind rivals such as Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet in the hot field of artificial intelligence, so its shares have underperformed peers this year.

However, some concerns about weak stock performance were alleviated after Apple's May quarter results and forecasts beat market expectations and it unveiled a record $110 billion buyback plan. Apple shares have risen about 12% so far in 2024, while Microsoft has gained about 16% and Alphabet has gained nearly 28%. AI chip leader Nvidia's market capitalization briefly surpassed Apple's last week, and its shares have soared 154% this year.

Nvidia's latest market capitalization was $3.11 trillion. Tesla is the only Big Seven stock to underperform Apple this year, down about 30%.