The leaderboard has shifted. Microsoft has taken the crown, Nvidia is surging, and for the first time, every company in the top 10 now commands a valuation above $1 trillion. Apple, once the undisputed heavyweight, is showing signs of fatigue in a market that rewards constant reinvention. Its latest product launches have landed with more of a shrug than a splash.
The rise of artificial intelligence is reshaping everything. AI is no longer just a buzzword; it’s a driving force behind product development, growth strategy, investments and even hiring practices. From Nvidia’s chips to Microsoft’s enterprise tools to Amazon’s cloud expansion, AI is accelerating some companies faster than even the most optimistic forecasts previously predicted.
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These companies have navigated a gauntlet of global challenges: pandemic recovery, labor shifts, supply chain disruptions, inflation pressures and geopolitical instability from both the Russia-Ukraine war and re-emerging Middle East tensions. While climate pledges and social impact goals have taken a back seat, the new landscape has redoubled pressure to deliver results with speed, scale and adaptability.
Here are 2025’s 10 most valuable companies in the world by market capitalization:
| Company | Sector | Market Capitalization* |
| Microsoft Corp. (ticker: MSFT) | Technology | $3.55 trillion |
| Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) | Technology | $3.51 trillion |
| Apple Inc. (AAPL) | Technology | $3.00 trillion |
| Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) | Consumer cyclical | $2.23 trillion |
| Alphabet Inc. (GOOG, GOOGL) | Communication services | $2.03 trillion |
| Meta Platforms Inc. (META) | Communication services | $1.72 trillion |
| Saudi Arabian Oil Co. (2222.SR) | Energy | $1.60 trillion |
| Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) | Technology | $1.18 trillion |
| Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSM) | Technology | $1.09 trillion |
| Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A, BRK.B) | Financial | $1.05 trillion |
*As of June 22, 2025.
No. 10: Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A, BRK.B)
Berkshire Hathaway is the oldest company on this list, with roots stretching back to 1839 under Oliver Chace’s Rhode Island textile manufacturing firm. Its modern identity began in 1965, when Warren Buffett began the journey to convert the struggling textile company, The Valley Falls Company, into a fully diversified holding company. Under the Oracle of Omaha’s stewardship, the company acquired iconic brands like Geico, BNSF Railway, Dairy Queen and See’s Candies, transforming into a sprawling conglomerate spanning insurance, energy, transportation, manufacturing and retail.
With Buffett’s disciplined value investing and long-term vision, Berkshire’s Class?A shares have soared more than 5.5?million percent since he took control, vastly outpacing the S&P?500. However, in recent years, Berkshire has started to show a slight fraying around the edges. Buffett, now in his 90s, lost his 60-plus-year business partner Charlie Munger in November 2023 at the age of 99.
In April, Berkshire triggered its long-planned succession strategy, with Vice Chair Greg Abel slated to step into Buffett’s role at the end of 2025. Abel’s ascension is widely regarded by investors and analysts alike, lending reassuring gravitas to Buffett handing over the reins. Coupled with Berkshire’s unparalleled liquid cash reserves nearing $350?billion, the company is positioned well for future acquisitions or share buybacks.
No. 9: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSM)
Taiwan Semiconductor, also known as TSMC, was founded in 1987 by Morris Chang, known as the “Godfather” of the Taiwanese chip industry. TSMC is the second-most-valuable semiconductor company in the world. Headquartered in Hsinchu, Taiwan, it is also the world’s largest pure-play semiconductor foundry, enabling fabless firms like Apple, Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) and Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) to outsource production and effectively powering the computing and AI revolutions.
During Chang’s tenure, TSMC became the world’s first dedicated semiconductor foundry and has remained a consistent leader in its field, producing over 90% of the world’s cutting-edge logic chips. It has also perfected its ability to pack the highest number of data transistors onto a single silicon chip. After Chang’s retirement in 2018, Mark Liu was named chairman and C.C. Wei became CEO. Following the 2024 annual shareholders’ meeting, the board unanimously elected Wei to also serve as chairman, making him the first individual in TSMC’s history to hold both roles simultaneously.
As Taiwan’s largest company, TSMC’s unmatched execution and capacity have positioned what many refer to as a “silicon shield,” anchoring its geo-strategic importance amidst rising tensions between China and the U.S. in the Taiwan Strait. The firm has also made strategic investments in the U.S. (Arizona), Japan and Germany to help mitigate geopolitical risk.
No. 8: Broadcom Inc. (AVGO)
Broadcom has broken into the ranks of the top 10 companies and holds a unique story compared to its fellow firms. It is currently led by President and CEO Tan Hock Eng, with headquarters in Palo Alto, California.
Broadcom began as Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co.’s (HPE) semiconductor unit, HP Associates. Established in 1961, it was spun off as Agilent’s semiconductor group in 1999. In 2005, private equity firms KKR & Co. Inc. (KKR) and Silver Lake Partners acquired Agilent Technologies Inc.’s (A) Semiconductor Products Group and formed Avago Technologies, which went public in 2009. Avago ultimately acquired Broadcom Corp. in January 2016. That acquisition significantly strengthened Avago’s patent portfolio, making it the ninth-largest holder of patents among top semiconductor vendors. The newly merged entity adopted the Broadcom name but kept Avago’s ticker symbol. In 2017, Broadcom moved its legal domicile from Singapore to Delaware. The new U.S. entity was named Broadcom Inc., with Broadcom Corp. remaining a wholly owned subsidiary.
Broadcom then went on an aggressive acquisition spree. Rebuffed by regulators in its attempt to acquire Qualcomm in a hostile takeover, the setback set into motion a pivot into software and infrastructure. The company focused on strategic buys like CA Technologies and Symantec’s enterprise security unit, culminating in the $69 billion acquisition of VMware, finalized in November 2023.
Broadcom’s leap in market capitalization has been powered by its rise as a major player in the AI chip space, with a focus on customized ASIC and XPU solutions tailored for hyperscalers like Google, Meta, ByteDance and OpenAI. This success has enabled a $25 billion inflow from institutional investors and its positioning has been bolstered by 20% revenue growth, a 22.6% net margin and a 35% return on equity.
No. 7: Saudi Arabian Oil Co. (2222 SR)
Saudi Arabian Oil, also known as Saudi Aramco, is headquartered in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Its origins trace back to 1933, when Standard Oil of California secured exploration rights in Saudi Arabia and struck oil with the historic Dammam No. 7 well in 1938. U.S. partners — Chevron, Exxon and Mobil — formed Aramco, and by 1980, ownership had been fully transferred to the Saudi government. Today, the Saudi state — including the royal family and the country’s sovereign wealth fund — owns 98.2% of the company and relies heavily on its dividend payouts. Aramco holds the world’s second-largest proven crude oil reserves and produces nearly three times more than its closest competitor, PetroChina Co. Ltd. (OTC: PCCYF). Its dominance stems from controlling both the world’s largest onshore oil field (Ghawar) and offshore field (Safaniya). The company also owns the Master Gas System, the world’s largest integrated hydrocarbon network.
The firm trades in Saudi riyals on the Tadawul stock exchange, which is entirely owned by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund. Aramco began trading in December 2019 with the world’s largest initial public offering (IPO), raising more than $25 billion. It surpassed a $1 trillion market cap immediately and crossed the $2 trillion mark on its second day of trading.
While Aramco’s market cap is closely tied to oil prices, the company has taken steps to diversify. It has expanded into power generation and water desalination, and is now pursuing development of an estimated $1.3 trillion in phosphate and other critical minerals needed for clean energy production. The recent Israel-Iran conflict in the Middle East may give some investors pause due to potential volatility, but Aramco’s shipments have so far remained steady, and Gulf supply chains have not been disrupted yet.
No. 6: Meta Platforms Inc. (META)
Meta Platforms, originally launched as Facebook in 2004 by now-CEO Mark Zuckerberg and four of his Harvard University classmates, rapidly expanded its social media empire with key acquisitions like Instagram (2012) and WhatsApp (2014). Its 2012 IPO marked a major tech milestone and eventually culminated in a full corporate rebrand in 2021 to emphasize its shift toward building the “metaverse.”
Meta derives the overwhelming majority of its revenue, about 97.5%, from advertisements across its suite of platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp. The resilience of this advertising model, coupled with a staggering 3.4 billion daily users across its apps, has fueled consistently strong financial performance.
Aggressive investment in artificial intelligence has further propelled Meta’s momentum. The company has embedded smart assistants across its platforms, now available in over a dozen countries, powered by its most advanced large language model, Llama 3, and Meta AI. In 2025, Meta earmarked up to $72 billion in capital expenditures to expand data centers and AI infrastructure under a bold new initiative called “AI Superintelligence.” These moves have significantly strengthened investor confidence, helping Meta solidify its position among the world’s most valuable companies.
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No. 5: Alphabet Inc. (GOOG, GOOGL)
Alphabet Inc., based in Mountain View, California, traces its origins to 1998 when Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google as a revolutionary search engine. Initially focused on organizing the world’s information, Google quickly expanded into email, Android mobile, cloud services and YouTube video. In 2015, the company restructured into Alphabet Inc., reversing the typical corporate hierarchy: Alphabet became the parent company of Google. Page described the change as a way to form a cleaner and more accountable structure that would enable focused innovation beyond the core business. Still, Google’s search engine has remained a particularly valuable asset, serving as a buffer against the volatility of digital advertising, historically the company’s primary revenue stream.
Alphabet has been at the forefront of generative AI, although it ceded first-mover advantage to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The company has continued to push forward with its Bard platform, now Gemini. In February 2024, the Gemini chatbot generated historically inaccurate images, sparking public backlash and underscoring the challenges of rapid AI deployment. Alphabet has proven resilient, announcing its first-ever stock dividend in April 2024, a signal of confidence and maturity.
YouTube is a key growth driver, as well as Google Cloud’s expansion with cybersecurity firm Wiz. Alphabet has also laid off nearly 10,000 employees since spring 2023, indicating a strategic reallocation of resources toward AI and operational efficiency. These moves, combined with a $70 billion stock buyback and robust ad revenue, have bolstered investor confidence and reinforced Alphabet’s position among the world’s top-tier tech giants.
No. 4: Amazon com Inc. (AMZN)
Amazon began in 1994 in Jeff Bezos’s renovated garage in Bellevue, Washington as an online bookstore. From there, Amazon exploded into “The Everything Store,” a logistics and technology behemoth known for its Prime e-commerce platform, Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing, consumer electronics (Kindle and Echo), digital streaming and book publishing empire. Amazon also owns Whole Foods Market, IMDb.com and Ring home security devices. Its continued growth has been fueled by the integration of artificial intelligence throughout its operations. Today, Amazon is the largest online retailer in the world, serving more than 200 million users globally. As of June 2025, Amazon has officially overtaken Walmart Inc. (WMT) to become the largest U.S. retailer.
AWS has been a major engine of growth, giving Amazon a leading market share in global cloud services across countries like Germany, India, Japan, the U.S. and the U.K. Highly profitable, AWS is now expanding through Bedrock, Amazon’s service that allows customers to deploy generative AI models directly on its cloud infrastructure. Amazon is also diversifying beyond retail and tech, having made strategic health care acquisitions including PillPack in 2018 and One Medical in 2023. In 2024, Amazon deepened its partnership with Panasonic, which began shipping smart TVs with Fire TV and Alexa capabilities fully built into its television lineup.
Looking ahead, Amazon continues to drive AI-powered efficiencies, including reductions in its workforce, as automation scales. Analysts view these moves favorably, citing strong tailwinds from AWS expansion, growing merchandise volume, rising ad revenue and ongoing cost discipline.
No. 3: Apple Inc. (AAPL)
Due to its history of intuitive products and consumer-friendly service, Apple’s rise has been meteoric. It claimed the first $1 trillion market cap in 2018, then $2 trillion in 2020 and $3 trillion in 2022. But now, the apple is finally dropping from the tree, losing ground to both Microsoft and Nvidia.
Apple was founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne, launching the Apple I computer from a garage in California. The company revolutionized personal computing with the Macintosh in 1984, but it wasn’t until Jobs’ return in 1997 that Apple began its climb to global dominance. Intuitive landmark products like the iPod, iTunes, MacBook, iPad, Apple Watch and AirPods redefined consumer technology and emphasized user-friendly, customer-centric service. The iPhone, launched in 2007, became Apple’s most iconic and lucrative product, generating the bulk of its revenue and solidifying Apple’s reputation for sleek hardware and integrated software. Over time, Apple expanded into services with offerings like the App Store, iCloud and AppleTV+, showcasing original streaming content.
Since 2023, Apple has struggled with its deep dependence on the Chinese market. When China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, Apple gained access to inexpensive labor and global supply chains, ultimately leading to more than 95% of its products being manufactured there. However, as China’s economy weakened in 2023 and the government began favoring domestic tech firms, Apple faced growing restrictions. The situation was further strained when President Donald Trump, during his second term, imposed new punitive tariffs on China. While Apple remains highly profitable, it still relies heavily on iPhone sales, considered a mature market with limited innovation potential. Meanwhile, Microsoft and Nvidia are thriving by driving enterprise cloud infrastructure and leading the AI revolution. In today’s tech landscape, where investors reward disruption over stability, Apple’s perceived lack of AI momentum has contributed to its decline in relative market value.
No 2: Nvidia Corp. (NVDA)
Nvidia continues to be the darling of the tech world and the undisputed leader in AI chip development.
Founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem, Nvidia initially focused on graphics processing units (GPUs) for gaming. The company’s transformative moment came in the 2010s when it began repurposing its GPU architecture for high-performance computing and artificial intelligence. Nvidia astutely recognized that the quick and simultaneous computations required for advanced gaming were a natural fit for artificial intelligence and training deep learning models. It became a powerhouse in AI hardware and software systems, claiming dominant market share with applications such as Nvidia Drive, which powers all 30 top autonomous vehicle data centers. Nvidia’s growth has also surged as its GPUs are increasingly used for cryptocurrency mining centers that validate digital currency transactions.
Generative AI, such as ChatGPT and Bard, craves Nvidia’s chips more than ever. Tech giants including Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Meta are racing to scale their AI capabilities, all relying heavily on Nvidia’s hardware. Nvidia has also become perhaps the world’s most important tech company, having made a mark on the entire ecosystem from chip to software application. Seen as the primary enabler of AI infrastructure, it holds a unique position at the center of AI’s transformative tech shift.
No. 1: Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)
In January 2024, Microsoft finally crossed the $3 trillion market capitalization threshold, making it the second company to do so after Apple. In 2025, Microsoft’s investments in artificial intelligence are reaping results.
Headquartered in Redmond, Washington, Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975. Microsoft’s Windows operating system has long been the preferred choice in the business marketplace. It also has a wide-ranging portfolio that includes its Office software suite, Edge web browser and hardware such as Surface touchscreen personal computers and XBox video game consoles. Through acquisitions, Microsoft also owns LinkedIn, GitHub, Bing, the Azure cloud platform and other strategic interests.
Under CEO Satya Nadella’s leadership, Microsoft has embedded itself across tech’s most critical sectors. It has overtaken Apple in market capitalization primarily due to strategic positioning in high-growth areas, especially cloud computing and AI, where Apple has less presence. Additionally, its portfolio is broader with more stable recurring revenue streams from subscriptions and cloud services, which appeals to investors in uncertain economic climates and brings less exposure to tariff and supply chain disruptions. Finally, Microsoft is seen as having more room for growth compared to Apple’s perceived market saturation and slowing innovation.
What’s on the Horizon?
Artificial intelligence remains the conquering hero, and its evolving applications could tilt this list in new, unexpected directions. One thing is certain: These companies are betting big on AI. The only question now is, which one will be the first to cross the $4 trillion mark?
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The 10 Most Valuable Companies in the World By Market Capitalization originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 06/24/25: This story was previously published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
