15 Most Valuable Silicon Valley Companies in the World

Published on January 3, 2023 at 9:17 am by Insider Monkey Team in Hedge Funds, Lists, News

In this article, we take a look at 15 of the most valuable silicon valley companies in the world. If you want to see more of the most valuable silicon valley companies in the world, go directly to 5 Most Valuable Silicon Valley Companies in the World.

Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California located around the San Francisco Bay Area that includes San Jose, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Plato Alto, Menlo Park, Cupertino, and also some other cities.

Just as New York is known as the capital of finance, Silicon Valley has long been thought of by many as the capital of innovation. Given the region’s history, many of the world’s leading tech companies have their headquarters in the area.

One reason for Silicon Valley’s success is that the area has one of the world’s leading universities located in the area in Stanford. Another world class university, Berkeley, is only 30 miles away. Another reason is that many of the world’s top venture capital firms are based there such as Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz. With smart founders, smart employees, and VC funding, many start ups have grown into giant world class companies today.

Silicon Valley also benefits from being in the United States, which has the single largest economy in the world. By being American, companies headquartered in Silicon Valley have access to a huge market that could give them substantial economies of scale if they grow enough. Given the United States is the leader of the Western world, Silicon Valley companies also have access to many other developed markets as well.

History

Silicon Valley arguably started when William Shockley coinvented the transistor in the 1940s. Later, in 1956, Shockley would found Shockley Semiconductor Labs in Silicon Valley as the first company to make transistors out of silicon. In 1957, several Shockley employees would found Fairchild Semiconductor and later they would help found other leading tech companies such as Intel, AMD, NVIDIA, and Kleiner Perkins.

As a result of the semiconductor industry in Silicon Valley, the computer industry took off in the area in later decades. As a result of the concentration of computer companies and venture capital, the internet industry grew substantially in the area beginning in the 1990’s and 2000’s.

2022

Given high inflation, the Federal Reserve has had to increase interest rates substantially in 2022 and many Silicon Valley tech companies have faced headwinds as a result. Although the tech industry as a whole has more growth in the future, there could be more downside for individual companies if economic data doesn’t meet expectations. Given the uncertainty, it could be a good idea for long term investors to own a well diversified portfolio of stocks across many different sectors.

Photo by Slejven Djurakovic on Unsplash

Methodology

For our list of 15 Most Valuable Silicon Valley Companies in the World, we took the 15 most valuable companies with headquarters in Silicon Valley from companiesmarketcap.com’s Largest tech companies by market cap list.

Because Silicon Valley is mostly known for its technology, we only included tech companies on our list. We also excluded companies that originated from Silicon Valley but have subsequently moved to other locations.

We used companiesmarketcap.com’s market capitalization data for one subheading and the number of hedge fund holders in our database of 920 funds that held shares as another subheading for each company.

For more valuable companies, check out 15 Most Valuable NASDAQ Companies in the World.

15 Most Valuable Silicon Valley Companies in the World

15. ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)

Market Capitalization as of 1/1: $78.43 billion

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 103

ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) is a cloud software company that helps companies manage digital workflows worth over $78 billion as of January 1. With headquarters in Santa Clara, ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) is located near the center of Silicon Valley along with other companies like Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) and Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD). Given its location, ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) has access to many of the world’s smartest software programmers which has helped the company expand since its founding since 2004. Of the 920 hedge funds in our database, 103 were long shares of ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW) at the end of the third quarter.

14. Paypal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)

Market Capitalization as of 1/1: $81.19 billion

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 126

Paypal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) is a digital payments giant whose headquarters is in Silicon Valley’s largest city, San Jose. Given its scale, San Jose is also the third largest in California and 10th largest in the United States. With so many high tech companies located in the region, the San Jose Metropolitan area also has one of the highest GDP per capita in the world. As of 1/1, Paypal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) has a market capitalization of $81.19 billion and a forward P/E ratio of 14.93 as analysts expect the company to earn $4.77 per share in the next year.

13. Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Market Capitalization as of 1/1: $82.20 billion

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 67

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) is a global leader in materials engineering solutions for various industries such as semiconductors and flat panel displays. Given its semiconductor customers, Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)’s headquarters happens to be pretty close to several leading semiconductor companies such as Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) and Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD), as the three all have their global headquarters in Santa Clara. At the beginning of 2023, Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) has a market capitalization of $82.20 billion.

12. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD)

Market Capitalization as of 1/1: $104.43 billion

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 89

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) is a semiconductor company with headquarters in the center of Silicon Valley in Santa Clara. Although it was founded in another Silicon Valley city of Sunnyvale, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) moved its headquarters to a state of the art 220,000 square foot building in Santa Clara in 2016. Since 2016, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) has gained substantial market share versus its larger competitor Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) and now both companies are worth about the same. As of 1/1, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) has a market capitalization of $104.43 billion and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) has a market capitalization of $109.07 billion.

11. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC)

Market Capitalization as of 1/1: $109.07 billion

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 69

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is a leading semiconductor company with expected 2022 annual revenues of $63 billion to $64 billion. Like many semiconductor companies, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) has headquarters in the center of Silicon Valley, Santa Clara. Although its stock hasn’t done well in recent years as semiconductor demand has slowed and competitors have gained market share, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) remains one of the most valuable semiconductor companies in the world with a market capitalization of $109.07 billion as of 1/1. If the company can innovate, it could potentially regain its market share in the long term.

10. Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)

Market Capitalization as of 1/1: $109.34 billion

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 86

Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) is a financial software company that makes products such as TurboTax, QuickBooks, and Mint. With a market capitalization of $109.34 billion, Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) is one of the largest companies with headquarters in Mountain View, which is another city in Silicon Valley. According to Mountain View’s 2020 comprehensive annual financial report, Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) was the second largest employer in the city, only after Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG).

9. Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX)

Market Capitalization as of 1/1: $131.22 billion

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 115

Internet streaming pioneer Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) ranks #9 on our list of 15 Most Valuable Silicon Valley Companies in the World with a market capitalization of $131.22 billion. Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) has its headquarters in the Silicon Valley city of Los Gatos, where it is the largest employer with over 2,500 employees as of 2021. As of the end of the third quarter, Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) is also one of the more widely held technology stocks among the elite funds with 115 hedge funds in our database holding shares.

8. Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Market Capitalization as of 1/1: $132.58 billion

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 117

With headquarters in San Francisco, cloud enterprise software maker Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) would be part of what many view as the ‘New Silicon Valley’ which would be an extension from the old Silicon Valley which originally described the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California. The definition of Silicon Valley has expanded over time as the technology industry has grown substantially in the San Francisco Bay Area over time. With a market capitalization of $132.58 billion, Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) has also grown a lot since its founding in 1999. 117 hedge funds in our database owned shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) at the end of Q3, ranking it among the most widely held software stocks among elite funds.

7. Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Market Capitalization as of 1/1: $156.45 billion

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 93

Although its agreement to buy cloud based design company Figma for around $20 billion in cash and stock hasn’t helped its stock, software maker Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) has a market capitalization of $156.45 billion as of January 1, ranking #7 on our list of 15 Most Valuable Silicon Valley Companies in the World. With headquarters in San Jose, Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) has access to many world class software engineers in Silicon Valley that could help it transition further into the cloud that could make its business more recurring. 93 hedge funds in our database owned shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) at the end of the third quarter.

6. Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Market Capitalization as of 1/1: $195.70 billion

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 68

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) is a leading network products maker with a market capitalization of $195.70 billion. With headquarters in San Jose, Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) was one of the original Silicon Valley leaders in the dot com era when the company’s network products were considered as essential for building internet infrastructure. Although the company remains one of the most valuable tech companies in the world today, its stock has yet to surpass its 2000 highs. If the company continues growing earnings like analyst expect, Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) could get there in the future although when will depend on how the company’s fundamentals perform.

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