icon
icon
icon
icon
Upgrade
icon

Apple's Eight-Day Rally: Stock Soars Amid AI Advances and New Robotic Ambitions

AInvestMonday, Aug 19, 2024 4:01 am ET
2min read
As of last week, Apple Inc. (AAPL) saw a 0.59% increase, marking an eight-day streak of gains and a cumulative 9.08% rise over the past eight days. Over the past week, the stock has ascended 4.66%, bringing its year-to-date increase to an impressive 17.86%, with a latest market capitalization of $3.436 trillion.

Apple has reaffirmed its commitment to developing proprietary cellular modem technology, as per tech insider Gurman. The company plans to invest billions of dollars and millions of work hours to create these chips. Apple intends to integrate this functionality into future iterations of its SoC, aiming to create a more unified chip design.

In another move, Apple is advancing the development of a desktop robot that combines an iPad-like display with robotic arms. According to insiders, a team of several hundred employees is working on this project. The robot can tilt up and down and rotate 360 degrees, functioning as a smart home central control, video conferencing terminal, and home security monitor. Equipped with Siri and Apple Intelligence technology, it can respond to various voice commands, recognize voices, and adjust the screen's orientation to face the user.

Apple has prioritized this project and expects to launch it as early as 2026 or 2027, with a targeted price of around $1,000. Kevin Lynch, head of Apple's self-driving car project, has been appointed to lead this initiative. Despite internal debates over the project's feasibility and consumer interest, CEO Tim Cook and hardware engineering chief John Ternus are proponents of this robotic device.

Recent movements in hedge funds have also spotlighted Apple, as they continued purchasing shares in the second quarter amid the AI investment craze. During this period, Apple saw its market value surge by nearly 25%, attracting net buys exceeding 8.5 million shares. This happened as hedge funds scaled back their positions in other tech giants like Nvidia.

In a notable product launch, Apple introduced the personal assistant Apple Intelligence at the 2024 World Developers Conference. This assistant is powered by the AFM foundational model, which underpins a variety of sophisticated functionalities. It can quickly and efficiently manage daily tasks, and instantly adapt to user activities. Currently available to registered developers, this assistant is integrated into iOS18, iPadOS18, and macOS18, with a subscription price set at $99 per year for regular users.

Apple's AFM foundational model consists of both on-device and cloud-based components, managing language-related tasks locally on iPhones, iPads, and Macs with 3 billion parameters. The cloud model, designed for more generalized tasks, boasts superior adaptation capabilities.

These AI endeavors are supported by Google's TPU chips, which rival Nvidia's flagship GPU performance, providing high computational efficiency. The TPU's tensor processing architecture allows for significant increases in performance compared to traditional GPUs.

Canalys reported that, in the second quarter of 2024, AI-enabled PC shipments hit 8.8 million units, with Apple's Mac accounting for 60% of these. The lead in AI PC shipments is attributed to Apple's M-series chips with Neuro Engine, establishing a dominant position in the AI computer market. As Apple rolls out Apple Intelligence across most Mac models, this trend is expected to solidify further in late 2024 and early 2025.

Analysts predict that by 2024, the industry will deliver 44 million AI-enabled PCs, with the number more than doubling to 103 million by 2025. Apple’s advances in integrating AI into its hardware and software underscore its robust growth and forward-looking strategy in an increasingly competitive market.
Disclaimer: the above is a summary showing certain market information. AInvest is not responsible for any data errors, omissions or other information that may be displayed incorrectly as the data is derived from a third party source. Communications displaying market prices, data and other information available in this post are meant for informational purposes only and are not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security. Please do your own research when investing. All investments involve risk and the past performance of a security, or financial product does not guarantee future results or returns. Keep in mind that while diversification may help spread risk, it does not assure a profit, or protect against loss in a down market.