Apple Inc's (NASDAQ:AAPL) financial engineering with its eye-watering share buy-back programme, now extended by a further US$90bn, reveals a tech giant that’s running out of ideas, meanwhile, across Silicon Valley its oft-derided old foe Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) showed its ambitions at the bleeding edge of big tech.
The Windows firm is closing in on a significant new partnership with AMD, according to a report by Bloomberg, investing in the chip-maker’s Athena project which seeks to deliver a new generation of processors designed to power the much-hyped AI revolution.
It comes just months after Microsoft deftly moved to become the cornerstone investor in ChatGPT developer OpenAI, pouring US$10bn into the bot maker’s coffers.
Apple’s contribution to the AI landscape, meanwhile, amounts to cautious and reticent words, with chief executive Tim Cook saying the new tech is “huge” but Apple must be careful as it rolls it into its products.
It’s hardly a change of tack; the iPhone maker has always cut its own path, but you can’t help but feel that for once, Apple is one step behind industry trends.
After all, Apple is still drumming up hype for its upcoming augmented reality (AR) headset, scheduled for an unveiling at the June 5 Worldwide Developers Conference to be held at Apple Park in California.
Details are still scarce as to what Apple will unveil, but the bigger question will be, is anyone listening?
Facebook’s rebranding to Meta, pivot to the metaverse, and subsequent reputational nosedive, put a question mark over the people’s appetite for strapping a bulky pair of sunglasses to their heads in order to interact with legless avatars.
Which is not to say Apple’s foray into the metaverse will be as widely derided, but is Cook really able to steer to conversation away from AI, given the incredible speed with which large-language models have captured the tech world’s imagination?
Then again, what do shareholders really care?
As long as Apple keeps pumping hundreds of billions into its buyback programme, shareholders are likely to stay on Tim Cook’s side, at least for now.
Who saw Microsoft becoming one of the cool kids of Silicon Valley again?