Tech companies, it seems, are the ruling monarchs of the stock market, constituting eight of the top ten (10) largest companies globally.

As of August 2023, Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Meta, NVIDIA, Tesla and TSMC, are eight of the world’s top ten biggest companies by market capitalisation, data obtained from the Motley Fool, a financial and investment advisory firm, showed. These corporations have not only shattered financial records but have also fundamentally shaped the way we live, work, and interact in the modern world.

Notably, among the top ten, only two hail from outside the United States: Saudi Arabian Oil and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC).

Top ten firms with the biggest market capitalisation:

1. Apple (Tech)

CEO: Tim Cook

Market Cap: $3.03 trillion

Revenue (TTM): $385.10 billion

Gross Profit (TTM): $166.29 billion

Five-Year Annualized Return: 29.73%

Year Founded: 1976

Apple Inc. reigns supreme as the world’s largest company by market cap, a position it has steadfastly held for most of the last decade. Known for its cutting-edge products like the iPhone, MacBook, and AirPods, Apple’s foray into services, including Apple TV+, has further bolstered its standing.

“Innovation and brand loyalty have propelled Apple to its zenith,” states Tim Cook, the CEO. Apple’s transformative impact on consumer technology is undeniable, having crossed the $1 trillion, $2 trillion, and now the $3 trillion market cap milestones.

2. Microsoft (Tech)

CEO: Satya Nadella

Market Cap: $2.43 trillion

Revenue (TTM): $211.92 billion

Gross Profit (TTM): $146.05 billion

Five-Year Annualized Return: 24.75%

Year Founded: 1975

Microsoft, synonymous with its ubiquitous Windows operating system, has consistently ranked among the world’s largest companies. Beyond Windows, Microsoft boasts a diverse portfolio, including Office Suite software, Azure cloud platform, and Xbox gaming consoles. Its cloud computing services, particularly Azure, have been driving growth.

“Microsoft’s versatility and leadership in cloud services make it a force to be reckoned with,” affirms Satya Nadella, the CEO. While it briefly dethroned Apple in 2021, Apple swiftly regained the top spot, but Microsoft remains a powerhouse in the tech landscape.

3. Saudi Arabian Oil (Saudi Aramco, Oil & Gas):

CEO: Amin H. Nasser

Market Cap: $2.08 trillion (Converted from Saudi riyals)

Revenue (TTM): $551.95 billion

Gross Profit (TTM): $283.63 billion

Year Founded: 1933

Saudi Arabian Oil, commonly known as Saudi Aramco, commands a significant presence in the energy and chemicals sector. As the Saudi government’s prized possession, it boasts the largest daily oil production and the second-largest proven crude oil reserves globally.

Amin H. Nasser, the CEO, emphasizes, “Our strength lies in our vast reserves and strategic location.” Saudi Aramco’s fortunes sway with oil prices, as it briefly claimed the top market cap spot in 2022 before ceding ground to Apple and Microsoft when demand waned.

4. Alphabet (Google, Tech):

CEO: Sundar Pichai

Market Cap: $1.62 trillion

Revenue (TTM): $288.14 billion

Gross Profit (TTM): $159.57 billion

Five-Year Annualized Return: 15.71%

Year Founded: 1998 (Google), 2015 (Alphabet)

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, has revolutionized the digital landscape. Google, the world’s leading search engine, is just one facet of Alphabet’s vast portfolio, which includes Gmail, YouTube, Android, and Google Cloud. Its hardware offerings like Pixel phones, Fitbit, and Google Nest further diversify its reach.

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, highlights, “We’re at the forefront of innovation across the digital spectrum.” Google’s dominance in the digital realm cements Alphabet’s status among the market cap giants.

5. Amazon: (Tech, e-commerce)

CEO: Andy Jassy

Market Cap: $1.32 trillion

Revenue (TTM): $524.90 billion

Gross Profit (TTM): $234.77 billion

Five-Year Annualized Return: 7.17%

Year Founded: 1994

Amazon’s ascent from an online bookstore to the world’s largest e-commerce retailer is legendary. Beyond e-commerce, Amazon reigns as the leading provider of cloud computing services through Amazon Web Services (AWS). It also boasts Amazon Prime, Amazon Prime Video, and Whole Foods Market in its impressive repertoire.

Andy Jassy, the CEO, proudly states, “We’re not just an e-commerce giant; we’re shaping the future of cloud computing.” With a diversified product portfolio, Amazon’s influence extends across the digital landscape.

6. Nvidia (Tech)

CEO: Jensen Huang

Market Cap: $1.10 trillion

Revenue (TTM): $25.88 billion

Gross Profit (TTM): $14.57 billion

Five-Year Annualized Return: 47.81%

Year Founded: 1993

Nvidia, renowned for its graphics processing units (GPUs), has blazed a trail in the gaming and cryptocurrency mining arenas. Its GPUs are now pivotal in AI and machine learning applications, propelling Nvidia to new heights.

Jensen Huang, the CEO, emphasizes, “We’re the driving force behind generative AI platforms.” Nvidia’s recent profit surge in 2023 solidifies its standing among tech industry leaders.

7. Tesla (Tech/Automotive)

CEO: Elon Musk

Market Cap: $823.08 billion

Revenue (TTM): $94.03 billion

Gross Profit (TTM): $20.20 billion

Five-Year Annualized Return: 62%

Year Founded: 2003

Tesla’s meteoric rise in the electric vehicle (EV) realm is unmistakable. The world’s most valuable automaker, Tesla’s Model Y is the best-selling car globally. Beyond EVs, Tesla manufactures solar products and the Powerwall battery system for solar energy storage.

Elon Musk, the CEO, envisioned, “A sustainable, electrified future.” Tesla’s innovative spirit and clean energy solutions have propelled it into the top ranks of market cap giants.

8. Meta (Tech, social media)

CEO: Mark Zuckerberg

Market Cap: $806.02 billion

Revenue (TTM): $120.52 billion

Gross Profit (TTM): $95.73 billion

Year Founded: 2004

Formerly Facebook, Meta embarked on a transformative journey in 2021, focusing on building the metaverse. While the rebrand’s success remains uncertain, Meta’s primary assets—Facebook and Instagram—loom large in the social media landscape. It has also ventured into virtual reality with Meta Quest 2 and Oculus.

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO, aims to “redefine digital experiences.” Meta’s foray into the metaverse is shaping the future of online interactions.

9. Berkshire Hathaway (Diversified Investments)

CEO: Warren Buffett

Market Cap: $773.92 billion

Revenue (TTM): $316.67 billion

Gross Profit (TTM): $61.75 billion

Year Founded: 1839

Berkshire Hathaway, initially a textile company, transformed into Warren Buffett’s investment conglomerate. With its core business in insurance (including GEICO), Berkshire has diverse investments spanning numerous industries.

Warren Buffett, the legendary investor and CEO, says, “Diversity is our strength.” Berkshire Hathaway’s multifaceted portfolio and Buffett’s wisdom continue to underpin its high market cap.

10. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (Tech, semi-conductor)

CEO: C. C. Wei

Market Cap: $496.34 billion

Revenue (TTM): $72.49 billion

Gross Profit (TTM): $41.72 billion

Year Founded: 1987

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, or TSMC, leads the semiconductor industry as the world’s largest independent semiconductor foundry. It collaborates with global tech giants like Apple and Nvidia, supplying critical components.

C. C. Wei, the CEO, notess, “We’re the backbone of the tech world.” TSMC’s pivotal role in manufacturing chips cements its position among the market cap giants.

These global giants, hailing from various sectors including technology, energy, and finance, collectively wield immense economic influence.

Summary:

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While the current AI boom is only just getting started, an early winner is Nvidia, who – on Tuesday, May 30th – saw the company’s market capitalization exceed US$1 trillion for the first time. For a chip designer with no fabrication capabilities of its own, this is a significant moment.

Hovering at around US$970 billion as of 1st June, the momentary increase in share price saw Nvidia join an elite club occupied by only five other companies currently: Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Saudi Aramco.

Previously, only three other companies (Tesla, Meta and PetroChina) have also crossed the US$1 trillion threshold.

Nvidia’s share price has increased roughly 170% since the beginning of the year, growth that has outpaced other members of the S&P 500 index.

That growth is directly correlated to the increasing awareness and use of AI tools, and the potential for impact on business and consumers alike.

ChatGPT has been discussed in boardrooms and at the water cooler since it was released in November 2022. As of January 2023, just three months after its release, ChatGPT had registered 100 million users.

The chatbot – which is built on a large language model consisting of 175 billion parameters – was trained using approximately 10,000 Nvidia A100 Graphics Processing Units (GPUs).

Nvidia currently accounts for around 80% of all GPUs globally, where the use of these GPUs has been bolstered by AI and data mining (the parallel processing benefits of GPUs making them as useful for the training of AI algorithms as for cryptocurrency mining).

Market research company IDTechEx recently published a report that forecasts Nvidia’s continued dominance not just on the GPU stage but more specifically as AI hardware leaders, with the company taking a considerable percentage of the forecast US$257 billion AI chip revenue as of 2033.

Presently, Nvidia generates more revenue from their data center and networking market segment (which includes data centre platforms as well as autonomous vehicle solutions and cryptocurrency mining processors) than from their graphics reporting segment. In FY2023, Nvidia generated US$15.01 billion in Data Center revenue, which accounted for 55.6% of the total revenue generated for the year.

This presents an increase in Data Center revenue of 41% from 2022, where Nvidia has shown year-on-year growth in Data Center revenues of over 40% since 2020. Contrast this to other AI chip designers – such as AMD (who recently acquired Xilinx) and Qualcomm – and it is clear that Nvidia are establishing early dominance in the data center AI space.

The company is not resting on its laurels either. While the A100 is presently the most commonly used chip for AI purposes within data centers, Nvidia announced early this year the H100 GPU, based on their new Hopper architecture.

The Hopper architecture is built in TSMC’s 4N process (an enhanced version of the 5 nm node), incorporating 80 billion transistors (the A100 has 54.2 billion transistors, made in a 7 nm process). With speedups ranging from 7X to 30X across training and inference when compared with the A100 – as well as a comparable thermal design power in the PCIe form factor – Nvidia will be supplying the key hardware necessary to run the increasingly complex AI algorithms of tomorrow.

And yet, while Nvidia acquires more of the data center processing market, there is still significant opportunity for chip designers at the edge, which is forecast to grow at a greater compound annual growth rate than for cloud AI over the next ten years, according to IDTechEx’s latest report on AI chips.

AI at the edge has different requirements than in the cloud, chief among them the power consumption of chips due to the thermal capabilities of the devices in which they are embedded. As chips at the edge can typically consume no more than a few Watts, the complexity of the models that they run must be greatly simplified.

A chip such as the A100, with its large footprint and transistor density, would be a waste; instead, companies need not design at the cutting-edge in terms of node processes and can instead opt to manufacture at more mature nodes, which have a lower price point (and therefore barrier to entry) than leading-edge nodes.

It is difficult to determine the precise location of the AI inflection point and how far in the future it is. While opinions may differ, there is no questioning that the AI boom is happening and that AI tools have the capacity to transform workflows across industry verticals.

To learn more about the global AI chips market, including the technology developments, key players, and market prospects for AI-capable hardware, please refer to IDTechEx’s “AI Chips 2023-2033” report.

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And we learned that Dragon’s Den and Shark Tank judges are among those involved in LEAP23 Rocket Fuel Startup Pitch Challenge between February 6-9 in Riyadh; winners’ ceremony for ongoing Alibaba Cloud Saudi Hackathon set for final day; music icon will.i.am and Barcelona legend Carles Puyol join C-suite thought-leaders from Aramco, Zoom, Google, Oracle, SAP, and NEOM, among others.

LEAP23, the world’s most visionary and valuable technology event, will host two competitions with a prize purse of US$1.54 million, as well as a welcome a raft of global celebrities and tech industry luminaries ranging from music icon will.i.am and FIFA World Cup winner Carles Puyol to Amin H Nassr, CEO of Aramco, and Jae Sook Evans, Chief Information Officer at Oracle.

LEAP23 is set to run from February 6-9 at the Riyadh Front Exhibition and Conference Centre and will be the setting for the inaugural LEAP Rocket Fuel Startup Pitch Challenge, powered by Saudi Arabia’s National Technology Development Programme (NTDP). The initiative is a collaboration between the Kingdom’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), the MiSK Foundation, and NTDP.

Ninety global startups will fight for the chance to be one of the 15 nascent businesses selected to pitch before a judging panel consisting of Shark Tank India’s Ghazal Alagh, Baroness Karren Brady, aide to The Apprentice’s Alan Sugar, Saudi angel investor Tala Al Jabri, and Dragon’s Den stars James Caan and Steven Bartlett.

The judges will present the LEAP Award and its accompanying US$250,000 main prize to the outstanding startup, while US$150,000 will go to the best early stage startup, the most innovative startup pioneered by women, the new business that best embodies the LEAP spirit, the most impressive startup occupying the Metaverse and Web 3.0, and the pitch that represents the most exciting, ground-breaking use of Artificial Intelligence.

On the show’s final day, LEAP23 will also host the winners’ ceremony of the ongoing Alibaba Cloud Saudi Hackathon, which comes with its own prize pool of US$532,000. Organisers said the response to the four-day hackathon, which started on January 29, was huge. The winning solutions and ideas implementors – those that have made the best use of Alibaba Cloud technology to facilitate deployment, development, scalability, and fast go-to market solutions – will be presented with their awards on February 9.

LEAP23 is set to welcome 920 scheduled investors, including Sequoia Capital, Octopus Ventures, 500 Global and many more. Between them, they control an unprecedented US$1.9 trillion in assets under management. And with more than 5,000 potential meetings bookmarked, the four-day show promises to be the event where decisions are made and deals get done.

As well as pop superstar will.i.am and former Barcelona and Spain legend Puyol – both now entrepreneurs within the Metaverse – the latest batch of tech heavyweights and international celebrities set to speak at LEAP23 include Séan Garnier, CEO of Urbanball and world freestyle football champion, Gary Sorrentino, Global Chief Information Officer at Zoom, Helen K Pan, General Manager at Apollo Autonomous Driving – Baidu, Jim Deluca, CEO of Ceer, Hatem Dowidar, Group CEO at e& Group (formerly Etisalat), and a host of other C-suite thought-leaders from major global technology companies.

LEAP23’s newly released roster of tech talent also highlights the Saudi convention’s ability to connect East and West, with Selina Zhang, President of Alibaba Cloud, and Wu Eddie Yongming, Co-founder of Alibaba Group confirmed alongside Sheikh Talal Said Marhoon Al Mamari, CEO at Omantel, Saleem AlBlooshi, CTO at Du, Sheikh Bader bin Rashid Al Khalifa, Chief Communications and Sustainability Officer at Batelco, and Charles Li, ex-CEO of Hong Kong Exchange and Chairman of Micro Connect.

In connecting the most influential players from the East and West, LEAP23 will be the stage for announcing strategic alignments and large-scale business deals that will impact the tech community globally. Last year, more than US$6 billion worth of investments were announced and organisers are confident this year, with an increase in investors, exhibitors, and attendees from around the world, will surpass that figure.

With more than 900 exhibitors confirmed for this year’s second iteration, LEAP23 will host more than 700 speakers, including billionaire investors, astronauts, and athletes-turned-tech investors across its 15 conferences.

A host of Saudi Arabian heavyweights such as STC and NEOM will be accompanied by an international cadre of the biggest names in tech, such as Snapchat, Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services, Visa, Alibaba Cloud, Ericsson, Huawei, and Nokia.

Taking place alongside LEAP23 is the inaugural DeepFest, which will explore the global AI eco-system and showcase life-changing, multi-sector initiatives and innovations related to clean tech, the Metaverse, and women in technology.

LEAP23 has garnered support from numerous leading government and private sector organisations. Strategic partners and sponsors include NEOM, STC, Saudi Aramco, Mobily, IBM, Microsoft, Ericsson, Huawei, and Najm Insurance.

The 2023 edition will also host country pavilions from the United Kingdom, Finland, Japan, Pakistan, Indonesia, Oman, and India.

The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) is powering LEAP in conjunction with Tahaluf – a strategic joint venture co-owned by Informa PLC and the SAFCSP.

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