The economic weight of tech giants and multinationals has increased significantly in recent years. Nvidia reached a market capitalization of $5.7 trillion in mid-May. The company now weighs more than the entire German economy – third in the world and first in Europe – whose gross domestic product (GDP) amounts to 5,450 billion dollars.
So how do the market capitalizations of tech giants and multinationals compare to the world’s largest economies? And where is Europe located?
Nvidia, a US-based semiconductor manufacturer whose chips power both video games and artificial intelligence systems, is now the most valuable company in the world. After becoming, in October 2025, the first company to exceed $5,000 billion (4,380 billion euros) in capitalization, its value reached $5,700 billion (4,890 billion euros) in mid-May 2026.
Having already surpassed Japan and the United Kingdom in economic size, Nvidia now also surpasses Germany’s projected 2026 GDP, according to the IMF. Market capitalization data comes from CompaniesMarketCap and is as of May 14, 2026.
The IMF forecasts that German GDP in 2026 will reach $5.45 trillion (€4.67 trillion). The United States remains the world’s largest economy, with 32,380 billion dollars (27,750 billion euros), ahead of China, at 20,580 billion dollars (17,870 billion euros).
As Germany is Europe’s largest economy, the fact that Nvidia’s capitalization exceeds it means that the company is now larger than all European economies, including the United Kingdom (4.26 trillion dollars, or 3.65 trillion euros), France (3.6 trillion euros). dollars, 3,080 billion euros), Italy (2,740 billion dollars, 2,350 billion euros) and Spain (2,090 billion dollars, 1,790 billion euros).
Nvidia exceeds the combined GDP of 19 EU countries
Alphabet (4.12 trillion euros) and Apple (3.75 trillion euros) are also bigger than all European economies except Germany. France (3,080 billion euros) weighs more than Microsoft (2,610 billion) and Amazon (2,460 billion) in economic size. But the two groups remain larger than the GDP of Italy (2,350 billion euros), the fourth largest economy on the continent.
The cumulative GDP of the 19 smallest EU economies reaches $5,020 billion (4,300 billion euros), even less than Nvidia’s capitalization, at $5,700 billion (4,880 billion euros).
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang accompanied Donald Trump this week during his highly publicized visit to China. In March, he estimated that the explosion in demand for artificial intelligence could propel Nvidia’s turnover towards $1,000 billion within two years.
The top 5 American companies versus the five largest European economies
The cumulative market capitalization of the five largest American companies – Nvidia, Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon – reaches 20,810 billion dollars (17,840 billion euros). This is more than the total GDP of the five main European economies – Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain – which amounts to 18.14 trillion dollars (15.55 trillion euros).
No European company competes with American tech giants
The Dutch chip manufacturer ASML is the first European company in the ranking: it ranks 21st with a capitalization of 610.69 billion dollars (523.66 billion euros). The continent has no companies of comparable size to that of the American technology giants.
The Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche has a capitalization of 335.1 billion dollars (287.44 billion euros), compared to 286.84 billion dollars (246 billion euros) for the British AstraZeneca.
However, market capitalization and GDP do not measure the same thing. GDP reflects the total value of goods and services produced by an economy in a year, while market capitalization corresponds to the market value of a company’s equity and reflects investors’ expectations about its future profits and growth prospects.
The comparison nevertheless vividly illustrates the scale taken by these companies.
This text was translated with the help of artificial intelligence. Report a problem: [feedback-articles-fr@euronews.com].
