Wal-Mart Stores Inc once again leads Fortune’s list of the 500 biggest US companies by revenue, as the world’s biggest retailer succeeded in posting strong growth, despite a challenging economy for its shoppers.
The company’s revenue grew nearly 6 percent last year to US$469.2 billion.
Exxon Mobil Corp dropped to the second spot, with revenue of US$449.9 billion, but was still the most profitable. Energy companies continued to dominate the top of the list, with rival oil and gas producer Chevron Corp holding steady at No. 3 and refiners Valero Energy Corp and Phillips 66, spun off from ConocoPhillips last year, joining the top 10.
Fortune magazine released its annual ranking on Monday.
Moving up two spots to No. 5 is Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc, which owns everything from insurers to railroads to newspaper publishers and is in the process of acquiring Heinz Co. Manufacturing stalwarts General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co and General Electric Co slipped in the survey, but all remained in the top 10.
The increasing popularity of the iPad and iPhone helped Apple Inc jump 11 spots to crack the top 10 for the first time, landing at No. 6. The company’s soaring stock price also made it one of the most valuable companies by market cap last year, though shares have since posted a double-digit decline.
Another technology bellwether was not as fortunate. Hewlett-Packard Co slipped to No. 15 from No. 10 as the technology pioneer struggled with a broad consumer shift from PCs to smartphones and tablets and its own accounting missteps.
Also off the top 10 is government mortgage provider Fannie Mae, which dropped four spots to No. 12.
Meanwhile, social media powerhouse Facebook Inc, which last year went public in one of the biggest initial public offerings ever, debuted at 482 on the Fortune 500.
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
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OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to