Age of the tech giants
One may understand how the underlying macroeconomic theme has changed by looking at the market capitalisation of some of the world's top corporations over the last 20 years or so.
According to the data, tech-based industries have grown in significance while others have declined. Let's take a look at how the leading firms in the worldwide spectrum market have changed over the last two decades.
- Top companies evolved over the past two decades.
Dotcom Bubble (1999): At the pinnacle of the dot com bubble in 1999, Microsoft, the first software monopoly in the IT industry, had a market valuation of $531 billion ($931 billion in today's figures). Although this was just a short triumph for the tech corporations in the Top 10, which also included Intel ($271 billion), Lucent Technologies ($252 billion), and Nokia ($197 billion).
Post-Boom (2004): The dot-com bubble crash ended tech firms' dominance in the Top 10, with Microsoft slipping to second place with a market valuation of $282 billion — the only other major tech company represented on the list was Intel at number 9 with a market cap of $184 billion.
Financial Crisis (2008): After the financial crisis of 2008, Microsoft was the only remaining IT business in the Top 10, with a total market valuation of $212 billion, falling to fourth place.
Oil Boom (2014): The commodities boom, fueled by a $100 barrel of oil, ushered in a resurrection of the tech boom, spearheaded by Apple, whose flagship smartphone, the iPhone, debuted in 2007 and quickly became a household name. The company's innovation has propelled it to the top of the most valuable corporations list, with a total market capitalisation of $560 billion, followed by Google at $358 billion and Microsoft at $344 billion.
The Big Tech Era (present): Apple hit a market cap of $3 trillion briefly during trading on 3 January 2022. The milestone is mostly symbolic but it represents investor recognition of Apple's success over the past few years as the company has reported several record-breaking quarters of big growth in all of its product lines. As of 5 January 2022, Apple's market cap stands at $2.870trillion.
