Market Caps Rocket Beyond $4-T Mark as AI Frenzy Grips Global Tech Investors

1. Big Tech Market Capitalisations (US Context)

Table 1 captures the market capitalisation trends of seven leading U.S. technology firms—Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Tesla—between 2023 and 2025. These companies collectively reflect the impact of new growth engines, particularly artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud technologies, on global market dynamics.

Nvidia is the standout performer, with its market capitalisation surging from over $1 trillion in 2023 to more than $4 trillion in 2025. This fourfold increase reflects Nvidia’s dominant position in the AI hardware ecosystem, particularly in designing GPUs critical for AI training and deployment. As demand for generative AI and high-performance computing exploded, Nvidia became the first company in history to cross the $4 trillion threshold, signalling the scale of value creation possible from AI breakthroughs.

Microsoft follows closely, rising from $2.5 trillion in 2023 to approximately $4 trillion in 2025. Its strong position in cloud computing through Azure, combined with AI integration into its enterprise and productivity software, fuelled this growth. Microsoft’s ability to embed AI into widely used platforms like Office and Teams positioned it as a leader in AI-enabled digital transformation, enabling it to join Nvidia at the $4 trillion milestone.

Apple, by contrast, shows only modest growth—from $2.9 trillion to $3.2 trillion. Despite its dominance in consumer hardware and ecosystem lock-in, Apple’s relatively smaller role in AI and cloud innovation limited its growth compared to peers. This highlights a key theme: firms heavily reliant on hardware innovation without transformative AI applications faced slower valuation gains in the same period.

Amazon and Alphabet exhibit robust growth trajectories, nearly doubling their valuations over two years. Amazon’s jump from $1.4 trillion to $2.2 trillion underscores the dual strength of e-commerce and AWS (Amazon Web Services), which remains a leader in global cloud infrastructure. Alphabet, rising from $1.5 trillion to $2.1 trillion, benefitted from advances in AI through Google’s research arm and cloud services, reinforcing its role in both consumer and enterprise segments.

Meta doubled its market capitalisation from $1 trillion to $2 trillion, a resurgence driven by strategic pivots toward AI-enhanced platforms, recommender systems, and virtual/augmented reality. After facing challenges in 2022–2023, Meta’s turnaround reflects the broader potential of AI to revitalise platform-based business models.

Tesla, moving from $0.8 trillion to $1.1 trillion, experienced comparatively modest growth. Despite being a pioneer in electric vehicles and autonomous driving technologies, Tesla’s market performance lagged behind firms directly embedded in the AI-cloud nexus. This illustrates how sectoral focus influences capitalisation trends: AI-driven companies attracted exponential value growth, while clean-tech firms grew at steadier rates.

2. Indian IT Market Capitalisations (Contextual Comparison)

Table 2 examines market capitalisations of major Indian IT firms—TCS, Infosys, HCL Tech, Wipro, LTI Mindtree, Tech Mahindra, Persistent, and Mphasis—between 2023 and 2025. Unlike U.S. Big Tech, Indian IT companies displayed more gradual and uneven growth patterns, reflecting differences in market maturity, industry positioning, and exposure to AI and cloud technologies.

TCS retained its position as the largest Indian IT firm, increasing from $135 billion in 2023 to $150 billion in 2025. This steady growth reflects its strong global delivery capabilities and consistent demand for IT services. However, relative to U.S. Big Tech, TCS’s valuation gains appear modest, underlining the service-driven, outsourcing-focused nature of Indian IT compared to product-led innovation in the U.S.

Infosys demonstrated stagnation, remaining flat at $75 billion across the two years. Despite being India’s second-largest IT firm, Infosys faced growth pressures due to global economic uncertainty, client budget cuts, and slower adaptation to AI-driven service models. This static trend illustrates the challenges traditional outsourcing firms face in an era where AI automation is disrupting low-cost service delivery.

HCL Tech and Wipro reported marginal growth, with HCL moving from $44 billion to $53 billion and Wipro from $27 billion to $29 billion. These companies expanded modestly by strengthening cloud partnerships and digital transformation offerings, but their growth paled compared to the exponential gains of U.S. peers.

In contrast, LTI Mindtree and Persistent Systems displayed stronger percentage gains. LTI Mindtree rose from $17 billion to $23 billion, reflecting successful integration post-merger and expansion into digital and cloud-first projects. Persistent’s jump from $5.3 billion to $9.6 billion highlights how mid-tier firms agilely adopted AI, cloud, and niche digital platforms, yielding higher relative growth compared to larger incumbents.

Tech Mahindra and Mphasis posted limited growth, moving from $15 billion to $17 billion and $7.1 billion to $8 billion respectively. These figures suggest a slower ability to leverage AI-cloud transitions compared to global peers, reflecting both structural and scale limitations.

In summary, Table 2 highlights three key insights: (1) Indian IT firms exhibit slower, service-driven valuation growth compared to U.S. product-led innovation, (2) mid-tier companies like Persistent and LTI Mindtree show agility in capturing AI-driven opportunities, and (3) large incumbents such as Infosys face stagnation due to structural challenges and slower strategic pivoting.