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How the largest companies in China and the US compare

If you are in the hunt for mega-large companies, the US springs to mind. It’s home to the three trillion-dollar mega-tech companies, whose market caps are often single-handedly bigger than the entire market cap of some developed countries' stock markets. One country, however, which does have the heft and economic clout to stand up to the United States is China.

As a closed-off economy that is tricky to access, it boasts some of the largest companies in the world when you take into consideration revenue.

This data visualisation from Visual Capitalist compares the 15 largest Chinese and American companies by their 2022 revenue, drawing data from the Fortune China 500 and Fortune Global 500. It shows that China's largest company, State Grid, ranks third globally in revenue, behind only Walmart and Saudi Aramco (not in the graphic).

Top Chinese companies like State Grid are mostly state-owned enterprises operating in traditional sectors such as utilities, banking, construction and oil and gas. By contrast, the leading US companies are predominantly in retail and technology. The list includes major global players like Walmart, Amazon and Apple, as well as key Chinese firms such as China National Petroleum and Sinopec Group, illustrating the diverse industrial landscapes of these two countries.

Source: Visual Capitalist

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