Big Blue is now worth more than Microsoft in market valuation for the first time since 1996. The news, the latest sign of the technology industry's shift in away from the PC.

Microsoft lost its crown as most valuable technology company to Apple. Its market value peaked in late 1999 around $600 billion and has fallen ever since. IBM, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in June, has completed a remarkable change away from hardware over the last ten years. It once had a near-monopoly in computing and lost it.

During the past year, IBM's shares have risen 34 per cent, compared with a 3.9 per cent gain for Microsoft. Microsoft, the most valuable technology company more than a year ago, now ranks third, with a market capitalisation of $213.2 billion. Apple, whose market value has soared to $362 billion on the back of huge demand for its toys.