Top 10: Technology companies in the US
The US and the technology sector: united by the fact they play host to many of the biggest companies in the world.
Here, Business Chief takes a look at the top 10 tech companies in the US, according to market cap as of July 2023.
1. Apple
Market cap: US$2.96 trillion
Founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne back in 1976 as Apple Computer, Apple is widely recognised for its innovation and quality in both hardware and software, and is undoubtedly one of the most influential companies in the world.
The firm’s first product, known as the Apple I, lacked several features one would expect to find on a modern-day computer, including a display, keyboard and mouse.
Today, Apple has more than 150,000 employees and its products, including the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac, can be found in almost every country.
Apple became the first publicly-traded US company to be valued at US$1tn, reaching this milestone in 2018.
2. Microsoft
Market cap: US$2.54tn
Microsoft develops, manufactures, licences, supports and sells computer software, hardware and services.
Founded by Paul Allen and technology legend Bill Gates in 1975, the company has progressed to the point where it has more than 180,000 employees worldwide.
Products such as the Windows operating system, Office suite and Xbox games console are unmistakably associated with Microsoft, while the business also operates LinkedIn and Skype.
In January 2023, the organisation announced a new multi-year, multi-billion-dollar investment deal with OpenAI, the developer behind the groundbreaking ChatGPT.
3. Alphabet (Google)
Market cap: US$1.52tn
It's difficult to imagine a world without the existence of Google, the search engine which provides the answers to so many of our questions.
September marked 25 years since Stanford University students Larry Page and Sergey Brin officially founded the groundbreaking company from a California suburb, hoping to organise the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.
These days, Google is part of a larger parent company called Alphabet and is responsible for hundreds of products used by billions of people across the globe, including Android, Gmail and of course, its trusty search engine.
4. Amazon
Market cap: US$1.32tn
Amazon is a pioneering force in the ecommerce and cloud computing fields.
Having started out in 1994 as a marketplace for buying and selling books, Amazon has pretty much become a byword for online shopping. Today, the company offers almost anything its customers could possibly want, earning it the nickname ‘the everything store’.
Meanwhile, Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company’s cloud computing division, has transformed the tech landscape, providing scalable and secure cloud infrastructure for customers across the globe.
5. Nvidia
Market cap: US$1.11tn
Nvidia recently joined Apple, Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft in an exclusive club as its market value surpassed a trillion dollars.
Born three decades ago, the chipmaker went public in 1999 – the same year it released its game-changing GeForce 256, billed as the world’s first graphics processing unit (GPU).
Nvidia and CEO Jensen Huang have widely been credited with foreseeing the AI revolution, investing heavily in the technology in the early-2010s, including by powering the breakthrough AlexNet neural network.
6. Meta (Facebook)
Market cap: US$869.9 billion
Meta, formerly known as Facebook, is a multinational social metaverse company operating various businesses.
Its largest and best-known subsidiary is Facebook itself, which provides online products and services such as the Facebook social network, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus VR and Portal smart devices.
Still at the helm is Mark Zuckerberg, who created Facebook back in 2004 alongside his roommates and fellow Harvard College students. Today, the firm has more than 60,000 employees worldwide.
7. Broadcom
Market cap: US$364bn
Broadcom has become a global superpower thanks to a series of smart business decisions and bold acquisitions, masterminded by President and CEO Hock Tan.
The company in its current form was born in 2015, when Avago purchased Broadcom Corporation in a US$37bn deal and decided to rebrand by adopting its name.
Speaking to the Financial Times earlier this year, Tan pledged further acquisitions in the near future, while revealing he would stay on as CEO for at least another five years.
8. Oracle
Market cap: US$313.2bn
With more than 135,000 employees worldwide, Oracle provides software and hardware products and services for various fields including cloud computing, database management, ERP, customer relationship management and business intelligence.
The firm is responsible for creating the world’s first and only autonomous database optimised for analytic workloads, helping customers to organise and secure their data.
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure offers higher performance, security and cost savings.
9. Adobe
Market cap: US$235.2bn
Headquartered in San Jose, California, Adobe is a global leader in digital media and digital marketing solutions.
The organisation’s creative, marketing and document solutions empower everyone – from emerging artists to global brands – to bring digital creations to life and deliver immersive, compelling experiences to the right person, at the right moment, to achieve the best-possible results.
Notable products used all over the world include Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Acrobat, Lightroom and InDesign.
10. Salesforce
Market cap: US$215.4bn
Founded in 1999, Salesforce enables companies of any size across all industries to digitally transform around their customers by harnessing the power of automation, AI and real-time data.
The cloud-based software company offers a suite of applications and cloud services for clients, providing specialist analytics, application development and marketing automation tools.
With more than 150,000 business users, Salesforce is the most widely used global CRM system.
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