Largest Tech Companies In The World
Despite the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, tech companies have experienced incredible gains in both profits and market values over the last few years. Tech companies set a new record for spots on the Forbes Global 2000 list, taking 177 spots on the annual ranking of the largest public companies in the world.
Since the pandemic has recently created a new emphasis on innovative technologies to keep society functioning properly, there will most likely be even more technology services to appear on this list in the future.
The market momentum and desire for new and improved technology are so strong that there might never be a better time for tech-related startups to release their products.
What Are The Largest Global Tech Companies?
There are quite a few factors that go into making a list of the largest tech companies. The revenue, market value, and the number of employees are typically the most important factors when trying to rank them accurately.
It’s important to remember that just because a company is one of the largest or most profitable in the world, it doesn’t mean they are the best. There are plenty of small market startups that you won’t find on lists like these that can still provide incredible products and services for their users.
To be clear, these companies have their hand in any or all of the following:
Gaming industry
Data storage/Database software
E-commerce
Software products
Enterprise software
Computer hardware
Consumer electronics/processors
Graphics development
Big data
You'll find these companies around the world in:
South Korea
Germany
New York
Seattle
San Jose
Palo Alto
Without taking into account quality and pop culture relevance, this is a list of the largest tech companies in the world.
Apple Incorporated
Apple Incorporated was founded in 1976 by Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs, and Ronald Wayne and currently employs over 147,000 people. Regardless of whatever metric you use, Apple will almost certainly always appear at the top of any list involving tech companies.
Their annual sales have reached as high as $294 billion, which is second only to Amazon. Despite making fewer sales than Amazon, Apple is the most profitable company in the world, with nearly $64 billion in profits. These profits are a large reason why Apple also holds the distinction of the world’s largest market value.
Coming in at a borderline unbelievable $2.3 trillion market value, Apple is number one by a large margin. In fact, Apple is technically more valuable than the gross domestic product (GDP) of entire countries.
Not just the tiny ones that you might have a hard time finding on a map, either. Apple has more market value than Italy, Brazil, Canada, and over 180 more countries in the world. Incredible statistics like these are the reason why Apple is the runaway number one on this list.
Originally, Apple was heavily involved with personal home computers, but they weren’t able to compete with Microsoft and turned their focus elsewhere. It was in the telecommunications market where Apple truly excelled and grew into the juggernaut company that exists today.
Among the most lucrative products created by Apple were the iPhone, iPod, and iPad. Each of which essentially revolutionized the market and led to thousands of imitations attempting to create their success.
Apple continues to dominate the communications field and is constantly employing new innovations to maintain its success.
Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft was founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen and currently employs more than 163,000 people. The primary rival of Apple for nearly four decades, Microsoft has experienced its own share of incredible success.
Although Microsoft is behind a few other companies in annual sales (a still highly successful $153 billion), they make this list due to their very large market value. Microsoft became the second company in history to reach a market cap value of over $2 trillion and is currently the second most valuable company in the entire world.
Although Microsoft might not be the industry leader that it used to be, it really can’t be understated just how much of an impact that the company has had on technology. Microsoft was highly instrumental in bringing the internet to the average household.
Before Microsoft, computers were difficult to use and required years of training to understand. However, that all changed when Microsoft released their Windows operating system. The software was pre-packaged into personal computers and helped to create a much more user-friendly and intuitive experience for the average person.
The Windows operating system is still extremely popular decades later and can be found on computers, phones, servers, personal apps, games, business apps, and just about any other device or application requiring code.
In recent years Microsoft has expanded its focus to include artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cloud computing.
Amazon
Amazon was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos and currently employs more than 798,000 people. The case could be made for Amazon to be number one on this list as they completely dominate all the others in terms of employee size and annual sales.
The annual sales of Amazon are a staggering $384 billion. Not only is this the most of any company of any kind in the entire world, but the second-place company (Apple) is also behind by nearly $90 billion.
Despite these absolutely phenomenal statistics, Amazon is third on this list because of its relatively low market value. Even though it’s basically inevitable, Amazon has yet to surpass the $2 trillion market cap, unlike rivals Apple and Microsoft.
Amazon is fairly divisive in terms of whether or not it’s a tech company. The origins of Amazon were as an online retail seller, but over the years they have shifted and become more focused on tech.
For example, their Alexa device has been an incredibly popular tech device and is expected to sell more than 65 million units this year alone. Additionally, the company recently launched the cloud computing platform of Amazon Web Service. This endeavor is designed to help start-ups, academic institutions, and government agencies create online businesses by giving them access to various tech services, databases, and storage.
So while the argument could be made that Amazon didn’t start out as a tech company by definition, there is no denying that they are one of the world’s largest now.
Alphabet Incorporated
Known more commonly by its former name of Google, Alphabet was founded in 1993 by Sergey Brin and Larry Page and currently employs around 120,000 people. The company changed its official name in 2015 from Google to Alphabet in order to expand its overall ventures and acquisitions more easily.
Alphabet employs considerably fewer employees than the other companies on this list but is able to keep up in terms of annual sales and market cap. The annual sales of Alphabet are around $182 billion, which places them higher than Microsoft. However, the market cap is the smallest at roughly $1.5 trillion.
This market value is good enough to earn a place in the top five of all company values worldwide but is still relatively far behind the others on this list. Alphabet became famous because it created a search engine so incredibly powerful and popular that it has become a verb.
Since then, Alphabet has shifted its focus onto other projects, including the mobile-based Android operating system, which competes directly with Apple’s iOS. Alphabet has also invested in companies focused on human health, artificial intelligence, robotics, and automated driving to name a few.
Other notable names:
You'll recognize these:
IBM (International Business Machines)
Infosys
Oracle
Dell Technologies
HP (Hewlett-Packard)
Hitachi
Cisco Systems
The Takeaway
There are so many high-quality tech companies in the world that provide their customers with incredible services. However, only a very select few can match the success of the largest companies in the world.
Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet are virtually unmatched in employment data, annual sales, and market cap value. These four companies are undeniably the largest tech companies globally and by a fairly wide margin.
SOURCES:
The Global 2000-2021 | Forbes.com
Apple Surpasses Amazon As World's Most Valuable Brand | Businessinsider.com
At $2.08 Trillion, Apple Is Bigger Than These Things | Investopedia.com