Google's parent company hit a major financial milestone on Monday, reaching a $4tn valuation for the first time and surpassing Apple to become the second-most valuable company in the world. Alphabet is the fourth company to hit the $4tn milestone after Nvidia, which later hit $5tn, Microsoft and Apple . The spike in share price comes after Apple announced it had chosen Google's Gemini AI model to power a major overhaul of the iPhone maker's digital assistant Siri, which comes installed in every iPhone. Neither company disclosed how much the deal was worth. "After careful evaluation, we determined that Google's technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models," Apple said in a statement to CNBC . As tech stocks continue a years-long meteoric rise, fears of a bubble in the stock market persist; however, Wall Street's excitement for new avenues of investment in AI does as well.

Shares of Google's parent company Alphabet fell more than 6% after the company reported a slight miss in expected revenue on Tuesday. The company reported 96.5bn, compared with analyst expectations of 96.67 bn. The company surpassed investors' expectations of 2.13 in earnings per share, however, with 2.15 in EPS. "Q4 was a strong quarter driven by our leadership in AI and momentum across the business," Alphabet chief executive Sundar Pichai wrote in a statement. "We are building, testing, and launching products and models faster than ever, and making significant progress in compute and driving efficiencies."

Google's parent company has hit a stock market value of 2tn ( 1.6tn) as investors reacted to a declaration of its first ever dividend alongside strong results on Thursday. Shares in Alphabet rose 10% in early Wall Street trading on Friday to give the tech group a stock market capitalisation – a measure of a corporation's value – of more than 2tn. Alphabet last hit that level in intraday trading in 2021, but has yet to close above that benchmark after a day's trading. Alphabet's shares rose after it posted results on Thursday that exceeded analyst's expectations. Microsoft also reported strong figures on Thursday, amid heavy investment in artificial intelligence, and investors pushed the company past the 3tn mark, a level it has already crossed this year.

Waymo unveiled an autonomous, all-electric minivan with no wheels, pedals or mirrors that represents a bet on the future of ride-hailing.

SAN FRANCISCO – Silicon Valley researchers are attacking flying bloodsuckers in California's Fresno County. A white high-top Mercedes van winds its way through the suburban sprawl and strip malls as a swarm of male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes shoot out of a black plastic tube on the passenger-side window. These pests are tiny and, with a wingspan of just a few millimeters, all but invisible. "You hear that little beating sound?" says Kathleen Parkes, a spokesperson for Verily Life Sciences, a unit of Alphabet. Jacob Crawford, a Verily senior scientist riding with Parkes, begins describing a mosquito-control technique with dazzling potential.

Microsoft has just earned the title of the third most valuable company in the world. The software giant saw its market cap skyrocket to just over $760 billion on Wednesday, making it that much closer to being the world's most valuable company -- a title held by Apple and closely followed by Amazon. But that doesn't mean Microsoft has lost out on any bragging rights, however, as its new market capitalization means that it has surged ahead of Google parent company Alphabet, in terms of valuation. Microsoft is now worth close to $20 billion more than Alphabet, which has a market cap of roughly $744 billion. It's the first time that such occurrence has happened in three years Microsoft is now worth close to $20 billion more than Alphabet, which has a market cap of roughly $744 billion.

Two tech giants racing for a lead in autonomous driving clashed Monday in court as former Google car unit Waymo's lawyer argued that Uber's boss deliberately chose'to cheat' to get a leg up on competitors. The accusations flew in the opening day of a trial in which Google parent Alphabet's Waymo division is seeking at least $1 billion over the theft of trade secrets from its self-driving car program. In opening remarks before the jury in San Francisco federal court, Waymo lawyer Charles Verhoeven maintained that Uber's founder and former chief executive Travis Kalanick made the decision to use stolen trade secrets to enable the global ridesharing giant to move into autonomous driving. Google parent Alphabet's Waymo division is seeking at least $1 billion over the theft of trade secrets from its self-driving car program. 'He made a decision and the decision was to cheat,' Verhoeven said.

Schmidt joined Google in 2001 as CEO, three years after the search giant was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Google launched a new structure in October 2015, making Alphabet a holding company for Google and related businesses. Some of those "other bets" include self-driving cars, smart thermostats and internet-delivering balloons.

Artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics are making some real money for stock investors, and beating the market. The Global X Robotics and Artificial Intelligence ETF (BOTZ) is up 30 percent this year and the ROBO Global Robotics and Automation Index (ROBO) is up 25 percent. "Between the tech exposure and the international exposure, that's helped the group pretty well," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank. The upward trend in robotics and artificial intelligence stocks is one proponents say, in the long-term, could top the so-called FANG stocks -- Facebook, Amazon.com, Each FANG stock has rallied 20 to 50 percent this year and the companies are increasingly focused on using technologies such as artificial intelligence, or AI, to develop their businesses.

Waymo, the self-driving car unit of Google parent Alphabet, has reached an agreement with ridesharer Lyft to test self-driving car technology, the companies said. Waymo and Lyft are joining forces against ridesharing giant Uber, which is racing to develop its own self-driving vehicles. Many other companies such as German carmaker Daimler and California-based Tesla have been stepping up efforts in autonomous driving in recent years. Waymo and Lyft are joining forces against ridesharing giant Uber, which is racing to develop its own self-driving vehicles. 'Waymo holds today's best self-driving technology, and collaborating with them will accelerate our shared vision of improving lives with the world s best transportation,' the Lyft statement read.