Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is the largest company in the technology sector and overall, ahead of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA). The top 10 tech companies by market cap are spread across a range of industries, including consumer electronics, semiconductor manufacturing, cloud computing, and e-commerce.

Largest tech companies

Largest companies by market cap in the technology sector

Data as of May 15, 2025.
Name and ticker Market cap Current price Industry
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) $3.2 trillion $211.11 Technology Hardware, Storage and Peripherals
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) $3.4 trillion $452.47 Software
Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) $3.3 trillion $134.64 Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM) $1.0 trillion $194.21 Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment
Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) $1.1 trillion $232.32 Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment
Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) $457 billion $159.06 Software
SAP (NYSE:SAP) $337 billion $294.50 Software
Samsung Electronics (OTC:SSNL.F) $260 billion $38.83 Technology Hardware, Storage and Peripherals
ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) $302 billion $757.96 Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) $279 billion $290.70 Software

Companies 1-5

1. Apple

  • Market cap: $3.1 trillion (as of April 3)
  • Revenue (TTM): $395.8 billion
  • Gross profit (TTM): $184.1 billion
  • Five-year annualized return: 29.34%
  • Year founded: 1976

Apple is a consumer electronics company with a long list of popular products, including the iPhone, MacBook, iPad, Apple Watch, and AirPods. It became the world's biggest company on Aug. 9, 2011, and has mostly remained at the top since then.

It hasn't all been smooth sailing for Apple in recent years. The Apple Vision Pro, a mixed-reality headset, posted disappointing sales numbers. The release of Apple Intelligence, an artificial intelligence (AI) technology, has gotten mixed reviews. Apple is also embroiled in an antitrust lawsuit with the U.S. Department of Justice.

2. Microsoft

  • Market cap: $2.8 trillion (as of April 3)
  • Revenue (TTM): $261.8 billion
  • Gross profit (TTM): $181.7 billion
  • Five-year annualized return: 21.44%
  • Year founded: 1975

Microsoft is the largest software company, and it's most well-known for the Windows operating system used by more than 70% of the world's computers. In addition, it has a wide range of products, including Microsoft Office software, Azure cloud computing, and Xbox video game systems.

Like most major tech companies, Microsoft has invested heavily in AI. It started investing in OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, in 2019, and has since developed an AI digital assistant called Microsoft Copilot. For its 2025 fiscal year, Microsoft plans to invest $80 billion to build out AI-enabled data centers.

3. Nvidia

  • Market cap: $2.5 trillion (as of April 3)
  • Revenue (TTM): $130.5 billion
  • Gross profit (TTM): $97.9 billion
  • Five-year annualized return: 76.99%
  • Year founded: 1993

Nvidia is a leader in the design and development of graphics processing units (GPUs). Its GPUs first gained popularity for use in video gaming and computers, and then as a way to mine cryptocurrency with GPU power.

In recent years, Nvidia GPUs have been instrumental in training AI models, driving up demand (and Nvidia's share price). Its market cap increased by more than $2 trillion in 2024, and it has briefly become the world's largest company on multiple occasions.

4. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing

  • Market cap: $679.3 billion (as of April 3)
  • Revenue (TTM): $87.2 billion*
  • Gross profit (TTM): $48.1 billion*
  • Five-year annualized return: 30.95%
  • Year founded: 1987

*Converted from New Taiwan dollars.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing is a global leader in researching, designing, and manufacturing semiconductors. It produces chips for many of the major tech companies, including Apple, which is its biggest customer.

This semiconductor company is heavily expanding its operations in 2025. In March, it announced plans to invest $100 billion to build multiple U.S. facilities. It also opened a plant in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

5. Broadcom

  • Market cap: $724.2 billion (as of April 3)
  • Revenue (TTM): $54.5 billion
  • Gross profit (TTM): $34.5 billion
  • Five-year annualized return: 52.73%
  • Year founded: 1961 (HP Associates), 2005 (Avago Technologies), 2016 (Broadcom Limited)

Broadcom began as the semiconductor division of HP (NYSE:HPQ), but after a spinoff, multiple large acquisitions, and the AI boom, it's now one of the top tech companies. In addition to semiconductors, it also offers infrastructure software solutions.

Broadcom announced plans to purchase cloud computing and virtualization software company VMWare in 2022. It completed the transaction in November 2023, enhancing its software business.

Companies 6-10

6. Oracle

  • Market cap: $384.8 billion (as of April 3)
  • Revenue (TTM): $55.8 billion
  • Gross profit (TTM): $38.9 billion
  • Five-year annualized return: 24.94%
  • Year founded: 1977

Oracle is a database software and cloud computing company. It has a substantial enterprise customer base, with approximately 430,000 customers in 175 countries. Recently, Oracle has prioritized AI integration, adding a partnership with Nvidia.

Along with OpenAI and SoftBank (OTC:SFTBF), Oracle is a technology partner in the Stargate Project. This new company intends to invest $500 billion into building AI infrastructure over the next four years.

7. SAP SE

  • Market cap: $321.7 billion (as of April 3)
  • Revenue (TTM): $36.9 billion*
  • Gross profit (TTM): $26.9 billion*
  • Five-year annualized return: 23.00%
  • Year founded: 1972

*Converted from Euros.

German company SAP SE is the world's largest provider of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. It offers products for supply chain and asset management, human resources and workforce analytics, and application integration and automation. SAP is a competitor to Oracle and has been acquiring cloud-based product companies for over a decade.

This tech company has had some legal troubles over the years. In 2024, SAP agreed to pay $220 million in fines to settle bribery charges.

8. Samsung Electronics

  • Market cap: $371.2 billion (as of April 3)
  • Revenue (TTM): $204.6 billion*
  • Gross profit (TTM): $76.9 billion*
  • Five-year annualized return: 1.58%
  • Year founded: 1938

*Converted from South Korean won.

Based in South Korea, Samsung is a consumer electronics company known for its smartphones, tablets, and TVs. It also sells home appliances, including refrigerators and washing machines.

Samsung announced a shift toward high-end chips and AI-related products in 2024. Through this initiative, it aims to increase profitability and position itself as a leader in the growing AI market.

9. ASML

  • Market cap: $244 billion (as of April 3)
  • Revenue (TTM): $30.5 billion*
  • Gross profit (TTM): $15.6 billion*
  • Five-year annualized return: 22.76%
  • Year founded: 1984

*Converted from Euros.

A Dutch tech giant, ASML provides semiconductor equipment systems. It manufactures and photolithography machines that other companies use to make the most advanced semiconductors.

While ASML is based in the Netherlands, it operates around the world, including in Europe, the U.S., and Asia. Some of its largest clients include Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), and Samsung.

10. Salesforce

  • Market cap: $245.3 billion (as of April 3)
  • Revenue (TTM): $37.9 billion
  • Gross profit (TTM): $29.3 billion
  • Five-year annualized return: 15.02%
  • Year founded: 1999

Salesforce provides customer relationship management (CRM) technology that companies can use to connect with their customers. Some of its top products include Sales Cloud for sales teams, Service Cloud for customer service, and Commerce Cloud, an e-commerce platform. It also acquired communications platform Slack in 2021.

Salesforce has incorporated AI into its business through AI agents. Businesses can use AI agents to gather data and automate customer assistance.

Takeaways

Technology sector takeaways for investors

The tech sector is an exciting one, where it's not unusual for companies to deliver market-beating returns. Most of the companies on this list have outperformed the S&P 500 over the last five years, and Nvidia and Broadcom have done particularly well.

The tradeoff is that tech stocks tend to be volatile. For example, Nvidia has seen both the biggest one-day gains and losses in Wall Street history. Tech companies also frequently trade at high valuations.

There's higher risk to investing in tech stocks, so it's important to carefully research growth prospects for any you're considering. Even with the risk, technology companies are well worth it for the potential returns. After all, many of the most successful companies in the world are in the tech sector.