On Thursday, Microsoft became the second US company after Nvidia to exceed the symbolic $4 trillion mark in terms of market capitalization, following the publication of quarterly results that were applauded by the financial community.

The world's leading software company's share price set a new record this morning, rising above $555.4, putting its market value at just over $4.02 trillion.

The Redmond, Washington-based technology giant reported better-than-expected results for Q4 ended 30 June, thanks to the strength of its Azure cloud platform and its AI offerings.

The group reported a 24% increase in net profit to $27.2bn, or $3.65 per share, compared with analysts' expectations of $3.35.

Revenue rose 18% to $76.4bn, also exceeding the consensus of $73.7bn.

Azure's growth accelerated to 39%, beating even the most optimistic analysts' forecasts of around 35%.

However, Microsoft does not provide specific figures for its AI services, but analysts estimate that its Copilot tool was largely responsible for the 16% growth recorded by its Microsoft 365 office suite.

This strong performance has led many brokers to raise their price targets, such as the BofA teams, which have raised theirs from $515 to $640 today. Jefferies has raised its target from $600 to $675, while Mizuho now says it is targeting $625, up from $540, as is Wedbush.

Amongst tech heavyweights, Apple is closest to Microsoft with a market capitalization of just over $3.1 trillion, while Amazon remains "stuck" at around $2.4 trillion on the stockmarket ahead of the release of its quarterly results, due out this evening.