Technology
Time Machine: Apple vs. Microsoft vs. IBM over the Last 20 Years
A decade ago, if you asked someone how they would get rich off of a time travel machine, a fairly common answer would be to go back in time and buy shares of Microsoft after its 1986 IPO.
While this is still a great answer today, the value of the software giant actually peaked back in 1999 with a market capitalization of $613 billion. Microsoft today is worth far less at only $443 billion – and after adjusting for inflation, that makes it worth around half of its peak value in 1999.
That raises the question – if we were to go back 20 years in time today, which company would be the best buy?
Stockchoker, a website that shows you the hypothetical value of stocks that you could have bought, covers this exact premise in an interactive visualization. Starting with $1,000 on January 1, 1996, the visualization shows the value of this money invested in each of Microsoft, IBM, and Apple.
Let’s start by looking at Jan 1, 2000 on the timeline, near Microsoft’s peak market cap:
Four years after the initial investment, Microsoft has returned an impressive 80% per year. Meanwhile, IBM is also growing fast at a clip of about 48% per annum, and Apple is working to reinvent itself as a company. Keep in mind the release of the iPod has not happened yet – that would occur to much fanfare in 2001.
Close to ten years later, the reinvented Apple is a success story. The iPod is flying off the shelves, and computer sales have increased dramatically. Although Microsoft still has the lead in terms of market valuation, the launch of the iPhone in 2006 would change everything.
Finally, we’ve reached mid-2015. Apple is now primarily in competition with Google (which IPO’d in 2004) for the most valuable company in the world. The $1,000 invested in Apple in 1996 is now worth a hefty $117,413 for a return of over 100x.
Want to travel back in time and watch this for yourself? Visit the interactive visualization by clicking here.
Technology
Ranked: Semiconductor Companies by Industry Revenue Share
Nvidia is coming for Intel’s crown. Samsung is losing ground. AI is transforming the space. We break down revenue for semiconductor companies.
Semiconductor Companies by Industry Revenue Share
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on Apple or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
Did you know that some computer chips are now retailing for the price of a new BMW?
As computers invade nearly every sphere of life, so too have the chips that power them, raising the revenues of the businesses dedicated to designing them.
But how did various chipmakers measure against each other last year?
We rank the biggest semiconductor companies by their percentage share of the industry’s revenues in 2023, using data from Omdia research.
Which Chip Company Made the Most Money in 2023?
Market leader and industry-defining veteran Intel still holds the crown for the most revenue in the sector, crossing $50 billion in 2023, or 10% of the broader industry’s topline.
All is not well at Intel, however, with the company’s stock price down over 20% year-to-date after it revealed billion-dollar losses in its foundry business.
| Rank | Company | 2023 Revenue | % of Industry Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Intel | $51B | 9.4% |
| 2 | NVIDIA | $49B | 9.0% |
| 3 | Samsung Electronics | $44B | 8.1% |
| 4 | Qualcomm | $31B | 5.7% |
| 5 | Broadcom | $28B | 5.2% |
| 6 | SK Hynix | $24B | 4.4% |
| 7 | AMD | $22B | 4.1% |
| 8 | Apple | $19B | 3.4% |
| 9 | Infineon Tech | $17B | 3.2% |
| 10 | STMicroelectronics | $17B | 3.2% |
| 11 | Texas Instruments | $17B | 3.1% |
| 12 | Micron Technology | $16B | 2.9% |
| 13 | MediaTek | $14B | 2.6% |
| 14 | NXP | $13B | 2.4% |
| 15 | Analog Devices | $12B | 2.2% |
| 16 | Renesas Electronics Corporation | $11B | 1.9% |
| 17 | Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation | $10B | 1.9% |
| 18 | Microchip Technology | $8B | 1.5% |
| 19 | Onsemi | $8B | 1.4% |
| 20 | KIOXIA Corporation | $7B | 1.3% |
| N/A | Others | $126B | 23.2% |
| N/A | Total | $545B | 100% |
Note: Figures are rounded. Totals and percentages may not sum to 100.
Meanwhile, Nvidia is very close to overtaking Intel, after declaring $49 billion of topline revenue for 2023. This is more than double its 2022 revenue ($21 billion), increasing its share of industry revenues to 9%.
Nvidia’s meteoric rise has gotten a huge thumbs-up from investors. It became a trillion dollar stock last year, and broke the single-day gain record for market capitalization this year.
Other chipmakers haven’t been as successful. Out of the top 20 semiconductor companies by revenue, 12 did not match their 2022 revenues, including big names like Intel, Samsung, and AMD.
The Many Different Types of Chipmakers
All of these companies may belong to the same industry, but they don’t focus on the same niche.
According to Investopedia, there are four major types of chips, depending on their functionality: microprocessors, memory chips, standard chips, and complex systems on a chip.
Nvidia’s core business was once GPUs for computers (graphics processing units), but in recent years this has drastically shifted towards microprocessors for analytics and AI.
These specialized chips seem to be where the majority of growth is occurring within the sector. For example, companies that are largely in the memory segment—Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology—saw peak revenues in the mid-2010s.
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