According to Cointelegraph, Microsoft (MSFT) stocks reached an all-time high of $378.81 on November 20, following a tumultuous weekend for the AI sector involving the ousting of OpenAI CEO and co-founder Sam Altman. Nvidia (NVDA) stocks also hit an all-time high of $499.60, continuing a trend that has seen its shares rise from a one-year low of $138.84. Both stocks have experienced significant growth over the past few years, driven by the explosion in the AI field spurred by the onset of deep learning and generative models such as OpenAI's ChatGPT.
Many experts attribute Microsoft's late November push to the company's newest AI hire, former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Altman was fired by OpenAI's board of directors on November 17 in a surprise announcement and was initially replaced by company CTO Mira Murati, who was named as interim CEO. Shortly thereafter, Murati was replaced by former Twitch CEO and co-founder Emmett Shear. Both Altman and fellow OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman have reportedly agreed to head up a new AI division at Microsoft, despite the company's $13 billion investment in OpenAI.
Microsoft stocks surged on the news, and gains have been steady for the entire sector throughout most of 2023. Other notable AI stocks, such as IBM and Tencent, have demonstrated high yield performance alongside Microsoft and Nvidia. Nvidia's all-time gains come as the company shores up its position as the go-to outlet for artificial intelligence training hardware, with a significant market share due to its graphical processing units (GPUs). The future of the November 20 highs and Altman's status at Microsoft remains uncertain, as a group composed of a majority of OpenAI's employees has penned an open letter demanding the company's board reinstate the former CEO, else face a walkout.