Microsoft joins Apple with US$2 trillion valuation on back of cloud computing growth
- Microsoft is the second US public company to reach US$2 trillion in market value, after Apple, amid growth in machine learning and cloud computing
- The Windows maker has seen its value jump 19 per cent this year so far, outperforming Apple and Amazon.com

Since taking the reins in 2014, chief executive officer Satya Nadella has reshaped the Redmond, Washington-based company into the largest seller of cloud-computing software, counting both its infrastructure and Office application cloud units. Microsoft is also the only one of the biggest US technology companies that has so far evaded the recent wave of scrutiny from increasingly active American antitrust regulators, giving it a freer hand in both acquisitions and product expansion.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index outperformed the S&P 500 Index on Tuesday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reiterated his view that inflation will be short lived. Both benchmarks extended gains after Powell’s comments with the Nasdaq 100 closing up 0.9 per cent and the S&P 500 up 0.5 per cent.