Photos: The 10 tech companies worth more than small countries

2. Amazon.com, $962 billion

Known as the most popular and successful e-commerce platform, Amazon.com changed the face of retail, forcing many brick and mortar stores to close their doors. Amazon is continuing to expand, however, with its presence in the cloud computing sphere under Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Image: iStockphoto/krblokhin

3. Microsoft, $883 billion

Microsoft spearheaded the IT software and services industry. Between the creation of Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office productivity software, the corporation made a stake in the tech industry. The business has always maintained relevance, innovating to meet evolving consumer needs; for example, Microsoft Azure is its cloud computing service that is gaining machine learning and edge computing tools.

Image: iStockphoto/wellesenterprises

4. Alphabet, $839 billion

Alphabet, better known as the parent company of Google, is an international conglomerate in the IT software and services world. Alphabet's success is obvious, as Google Search is used by a huge number of internet users daily, but the umbrella company hosts a plethora of other projects as well. Google has also evolved successfully with the mobile industry, releasing a new phone, smart home device, and tablet just a few days ago.

Image: James Martin/CNET

5. Facebook, $460 billion

Facebook put social media platforms on the map. Altering the way people communicate, interact, and share information, Facebook set the tone for the digital age. While it's had its share of problems with the recent data privacy scandal, Facebook is still the most successful social media app and website to date.

Image: iStockphoto/coffeekai

6. Alibaba, $412 billion

Alibaba is the leading e-commerce giant in China, providing retail, internet connectivity, artificial intelligence (AI), and technology services. Its recent movements to the cloud have been relatively quiet, but have done very well, growing 104% in Q2.

Image: iStockphoto/vivalapenler

7. Tencent Holdings, $383 billion

Tencent is China's internet-based culture and technology enterprise. A huge investment holding company, Tencent has subsidiaries that span a variety of sectors including social networks, entertainment, smartphones, e-commerce, property, payment systems, advertising, AI, media, and more.

Image: Screenshot/CBS News

8. Samsung Electronics, $297 billion

The Korean-based electronics company is best known for its smartphones. Recently releasing their Galaxy Note 9, Samsung is currently offering a deal that lets customers trade-in their old smartphones for a value of up to $600 when purchasing the new Note 9.

Image: iStockphoto/jejim

9. Cisco Systems, $224 billion

Cisco is a major technology hardware and equipment service provider. Most known for networking and cybersecurity, the company was just named a leader in network firewalls by Gartner.

Image: iStockphoto/jejim

10. Intel, $222 billion

Intel is a mecca for data center solutions, internet of things (IoT), and PC innovation. The Intel Core processors found in many popular laptops and desktops give computers the power they need to smoothly let users play games, stream shows, surf the web, download large files, conduct business meetings, and more.

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Also see

• Vendor management: How to build effective relationships (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
• Amazon: The world's most innovative tech company (ZDNet)
• iPhone XS: A cheat sheet for professionals (TechRepublic)
• Microsoft-Adobe's amazing partnership: Creating a new category? (ZDNet)
• The 10 most valuable tech companies in the world (TechRepublic)

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