Market and stock exchange AI boom drives the value of the most valuable listed companies
The boom in artificial intelligence (AI) has further boosted the value of the 100 most valuable listed companies in the world. In the first six months of the year, it rose by 17 percent to 42.3 trillion US dollars.
This is an all-time high, according to an analysis by the auditing and consulting firm EY, which is available to the German news agency DPA. The cut-off date for the survey was June 28.
At the top of the ranking is the software company Microsoft with a value of 3.32 trillion US dollars. By comparison, Microsoft is worth 77 percent more than all DAX companies combined. At the end of June, the 40 largest stock corporations in Germany had a total market capitalization of 1.87 trillion US dollars.
Apple took second place in the ranking, followed by the chip company Nvidia. The latter increased its market capitalization by almost 150% in the first half of the year, from USD 1.22 trillion at the end of 2023 to USD 3.04 trillion. Other semiconductor manufacturers such as TSMC (10th place) and Broadcom (11th place) also made strong gains. At the end of June, a total of 26 technology companies were ranked among the top 100.
EY boss: AI associated with gigantic value creation
Henrik Ahlers, Chairman of the EY Management Board, said: "The topic of artificial intelligence is a megatrend that is leading to a reorganization of the business world at breathtaking speed and is thus firing the imagination of investors and stock market prices". AI technologies will lead to drastic changes in all industries and also in private life in the future. "This will be associated with gigantic value creation."
However, it is primarily US companies that are benefiting from the enthusiasm of many investors for AI. Only a few European companies are currently playing a significant role. These include the Dutch chip supplier ASML, the German software group SAP and the British chip designer Arm. They were all able to make up significant ground in some cases and have a combined market capitalization of 812 billion US dollars. However, they are up against 18 tech giants from North America, which together are worth 16.5 trillion US dollars.
Europe in the second league when it comes to AI
Ahlers said: "Europe is currently largely playing in the second league when it comes to AI and has a lot of catching up to do." The pace of development is so rapid that there is a risk of being left behind. Although there are some promising AI start-ups in Europe, they are not listed on the stock exchange and are far behind the US top dogs in terms of turnover.
The AI boom could further strengthen the dominance of US companies on the global stock markets. At the end of June, 60 of the 100 most expensive companies were from the United States. 19 came from Europe. In comparison: in 2007, 46 were from Europe and 32 from the USA.
"Over the past two decades, we have seen a steady decline in Europe's importance," said Ahlers. The majority of Europe's top companies are not active in the technology sector and are therefore hardly benefiting from the AI boom. There is therefore little to suggest that Europe will be able to reverse this trend in the coming years.
