Apple and Microsoft are about to join the $4T market cap club

[Data Processing Marvel Two Robot Hands Showcase Advanced AI Technology and System Connection]
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A 2% move today could lead to some big new records. Both Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/AAPL]) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/MSFT]) are only a session away from notching a $4T market capitalization, which has so far only been achieved by one other company - Nvidia (NVDA [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/NVDA]). Other records are also being inked across Big Tech - which report earnings this week - like Alphabet's (GOOG [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/GOOG]) (GOOGL [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/GOOGL]) $3T milestone logged only a month ago [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4494925-alphabet-hits-3t-market-cap-as-gemini-overtakes-chatgpt] and Meta's (META [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/META]) $2T milestone in August.

_Bigger picture: _Continuous headlines from the tech sector, where artificial intelligence is running wild, are bolstering the biggest names in the industry and the market as a whole. The names mentioned above make up over a quarter of the S&P 500 (SP500 [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/SP500]), and if including other Magnificent 7 players like Amazon (AMZN [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/AMZN]) and Tesla (TSLA [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/TSLA]), that percentage goes up to a third of the benchmark index. It's not only the promise of AI, but most of the group has extremely strong underlying business fundamentals.

Core businesses like Amazon's (AMZN [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/AMZN]) AWS, Google (GOOGL [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/GOOGL]) and Meta (META [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/META]) advertising, Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/AAPL]) product ecosystem, and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/MSFT]) Azure and Office have made these giants not hesitate when shelling out billions on the artificial intelligence revolution. These companies are well-positioned with cash reserves even before capitalizing on the AI boom, and investors are betting things will stay that way once AI becomes monetized effectively. In fact, Big Tech is aiming to dominate every aspect of the new era of artificial intelligence, taking on the roles of the builders, the brains, and the developers.

OUTLOOK: The "builders" include infrastructure and hardware, like AWS (AMZN [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/AMZN]) data centers and Nvidia (NVDA [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/NVDA]) GPUs. The "brains" are the core AI models and platforms, such as Google's (GOOGL [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/GOOGL]) Gemini and Meta's (META [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/META]) Llama. Lastly, there are the "developers" and the AI application layer, like Microsoft (MSFT [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/MSFT]) Copilot and Apple (AAPL [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/AAPL]) Intelligence. Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Breakfast just polled users about which AI category would return the best gains as an investment [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScxnVifqBhCcL_7MC1QsSr0_1SEeeNZ2VUaxPx1Zv-7ReZEoA/viewanalytics] in the SA Sentiment Survey for October. Didn't see the survey? Take it here [https://forms.gle/FbF4apMwR5ypnBbm8].

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