NEW YORK, June 15 Reuters Microsoft Corp shares rose to a new record high close on Thursday as market optimism about the prospects of artificial intelligence AI has helped buoy the technology giant to a record market capitalization of 2.59 trillion.

Microsoft is seen as a leader in the adoption of AI technology in the software industry owing to its huge investment in OpenAI, the San Franciscobased startup that owns the widely popular chatbot ChatGPT.

Last month, Microsoft began rolling out a host of AI upgrades, including ChatGPT, to Azure cloud services as well as its search engine Bing in a move that seeks to challenge the dominance of Alphabet Inc39;s Google.

Microsoft39;s shares closed up 3.2 at 348.10 per share on Thursday. The stock, which has gained more than 45 in the year to date, reached its prior record close of 343.11 on Nov. 19, 2021. The stock39;s intraday record high was 349.67 on Nov. 22, 2021.

In addition, Apple Inc shares also achieved a record high close of 186.01 on Thursday, while shares of graphics chipmaker Nvidia set a fresh intraday record of 432.89.

Earlier Thursday, JPMorgan analysts raised their price target on Microsoft39;s stock, citing AI driving demand for the company39;s products. Of the 53 analysts covering Microsoft, 44 recommended buying the shares and the median price target is 340, according to Refinitiv data.

We reaffirm our bullishoutlier viewpoint on generative AI and continue to see it driving a resurgence of confidence in…