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January 3, 2025
The global stock market continues to be dominated by US companies, particularly tech giants benefiting from the ongoing AI boom. According to a recent study by the auditing and consulting firm EY, only three German companies made it into the top 100 most valuable listed companies.
The list of the 100 most valuable listed companies is led, as in previous years, by US technology companies. Market capitalization was determined at the close of trading on December 31, 2024, and compared with the values from December 31, 2023. Apple leads the ranking with a market value of approximately $3.78 trillion, followed by chip manufacturer Nvidia with $3.28 trillion and Microsoft with $3.13 trillion. The total value of the top 100 companies increased by 25 percent over the course of 2024 to a new record of $44.9 trillion.
The continuing boom surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) contributes significantly to the dominance of the US in the stock market. 62 of the 100 most valuable companies are headquartered in the United States. Nine of the top ten companies are American, including Alphabet (Google), Amazon, and Meta (Facebook). Only the oil company Saudi Aramco at number 6 interrupts the phalanx of US tech giants. Henrik Ahlers, CEO of EY, emphasizes the influence of AI: "Artificial intelligence continues to move the stock markets and drive the performance of technology companies worldwide." The weak economy and geopolitical crises fade into the background. Of the 100 most valuable companies, 24 operate in the technology sector, 17 of which are based in the US.
Even the most valuable German company, SAP, is benefiting from the AI hype. SAP significantly improved its ranking, moving from 62nd to 32nd place with a market value of $285 billion. Siemens reached 94th place ($153 billion) and Deutsche Telekom 98th place ($147 billion). This points to a positive trend: At the end of 2023, only two German companies were in the top 100, and none in 2022. Compared to the US giants, however, German companies are still significantly smaller. Apple alone has a market value almost twice as high as all 40 DAX companies combined.
According to EY, there are only five German companies among the 300 most valuable listed companies worldwide, compared to eleven in the previous year. The crisis in the automotive industry has led to significant losses in value for companies like Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, VW, and BMW. Europe and Asia are falling behind compared to the US. Only 18 of the 100 most valuable companies are based in Europe, led by the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk at number 14. In 2007, before the global financial crisis, there were 46 European and only 32 US companies in the top 100. Henrik Ahlers explains: "In Europe, traditional industrial sectors still dominate, which are currently in the midst of a profound transformation and are also struggling with weak global demand." Europe plays a subordinate role in AI and the digital sector overall. "And given the rapid developments in this area, there is a great danger that we will increasingly lose touch."
