big techs, or technology giants, are the large companies that dominate the technology and innovation market, such as Apple, Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta. These companies work on developing goods and services that meet current and future demands. society and other economic agents, bringing innovative and revolutionary solutions.
Big techs are increasingly present in our daily lives, such as through social networks, shopping sites and gadgets produced by them. These technology giants are also the subject of discussions about the formation of monopolies and their power to influence society.
Read too: What are the 10 largest multinational companies today?
Topics of this article
- 1 - Summary about big techs
- 2 - Big techs: what they are and how they work
- 3 - Advantages and disadvantages of big techs
- 4 - The 10 biggest big techs in the world
- 5 - How did the big techs appear?
- 6 - Importance of big techs
- 7 - What is the difference between startups and big techs?
- 8 - Big techs in Brazil
- 9 - Crisis in big techs
Big tech summary
The big techs are the big technology and innovation companies that dominate the market.
They work by collecting and processing data and developing innovative goods and services that meet the demands of society and other economic agents.
The main big techs are: Alphabet (Google), Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta.
They are responsible for some of the most important technological advances in the modern world, being increasingly present in our daily lives.
On the other hand, they create monopolies that raise the price of goods and services and make it difficult for smaller companies in the same sector to operate.
Currently, the methods of action of big techs are being discussed and the extent to which their power of influence on society goes.
Big techs: what they are and how they work
They are called big techs the biggest technology companies, communication and innovation of the modern world. These technology giants work from the collection and processing of information as a way of develop services and products to be made available to society, to the market and also to governments.
Mainly in relation to communication companies, it is not uncommon for many of the solutions promoted by big techs to be made available to the general public for free. The best example of this are the digital platforms and applications with the highest user traffic and information that we currently have, such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, The YouTube and most of Google's services (search engine, e-mail, videoconferencing platform and others).
We can say, then, that big techs are already part of our daily lives and have an impact on our lives, whether directly or indirectly. Like any other company, big techs work from the offer of services and goods finalized for an intermediate consumer, such as companies and factories, or for a final consumer, which is us.
Your products include technological innovations to be introduced immediately in the market or projects that aim to meet market and society demands in the medium and long term. the big techs operate in the financial market and, in the most recent period, showed significant growth compared to companies in other areas of activity.
Do not stop now... There's more after the publicity ;)
Advantages and Disadvantages of Big Tech
Advantages of Big Tech: big techs are mainly responsible for the development of innovative and disruptive products, thus promoting important advances in key sectors, as in communications, in transport and economic production. They also meet old and new demands from society, other companies and the market, creating solutions for the daily lives of people and economic agents.
Disadvantages of Big Tech: the group of companies that receive the nickname of big techs is formed by dominant companies in their respective areas of activity. In this context monopolies are formed that dictate the functioning of the market, which can create an environment with greater difficulties for new companies of the sector, many of which end up being incorporated by the big techs or having their innovations acquired by them. Monopolization also causes an increase in the prices of services and products, making them less accessible.
See too: Information age - what is it and how has it transformed society?
Top 10 Big Techs in the World
Big techs are the dominant companies in the market today. Some of the biggest companies in this economic sector, with a wide presence in the market and in our daily life, are headquartered in the United States and form the group known as the Big Five, represented by the acronym GAMAM: Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Goal.
Next, check out which are the ten biggest big techs in the world according to its market value|1| and the main services and products they offer.
Top 10 Big Techs in the World | |||
big tech |
Country of origin |
Market value* |
Main products and services |
apple |
U.S |
$2.2 trillion |
iPhone, MacBook, AppleWatch, iTunes, Apple TV |
Microsoft |
U.S |
$1.8 trillion |
Windows, Microsoft 365, Teams |
Alphabet (Google) |
U.S |
$1.2 trillion |
Google, Android, YouTube |
amazon |
U.S |
$902 billion |
Amazon Web Services, Amazon Prime, Alexa, Twich |
Tesla |
U.S |
$541 billion |
Electric vehicles, energy generation and storage systems |
TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited) |
Taiwan |
$410 billion |
Semiconductors, chips, microchips |
NVIDIA |
U.S |
$401 billion |
Graphics processing units (GPU), drivers, computers, application program interface (API) |
tencent |
China |
$377 billion |
Electronic games, applications and communication platforms |
Goal |
U.S |
$302 billion |
Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, Messenger |
samsung |
South Korea |
$301 billion |
Telephones, televisions and other electronic products |
*Data referring to December 2022, updated in January 2023.
How did big techs come about?
Some of the main big techs active in the world today emerged from the 1970s, as is the case of Microsoft (1975), Apple (1976), Google (1998) — which later became part of Alphabet (2015) — and Meta, which emerged as Facebook in 2004.
One of the main growth strategies used by these companies for their establishment in the market was the acquisition of smaller companies in the same field of activity, becoming dominant in their respective fields. Among the companies mentioned, Apple was one of the first to make acquisitions in the 1980s.
Despite the long existence of technology companies, the term “big tech” has been used more frequently since 2013 to portray those companies with greater dominance in the international market. Most of them belonging to Silicon Valley, in the United States.
Importance of big tech
The importance of big techs lies in the fact that these companies are major developers of technological innovations and business models that have acquired utility in people's everyday lives and in the economic market. The services provided by big techs expanded to world space connectivityand were incorporated into society's daily life, becoming basic items for communication and information sharing.
These companies are also important because they stimulate the implementation of improvements in other competing companies, belonging to the same productive branch, although there is much disagreement about the type of competitiveness that big techs create in the market.
Due to its increasingly dominant presence in the modern world, there is much discussion about the use of personal data collected by different technology companies and the role that big techs play in disseminating information and shaping and manipulating opinion public.
What is the difference between startups and big techs?
Startups: the startups are startup companies composed, at first, by a small number of people who aim to develop innovative services or products and, with that, establish themselves in the market. Startups adopt a business model called scalable, characterized by the possibility of expanding with a smaller amount of available resources.
Big techs: are also called technology giants because they are established companies that operate in the technology and innovation sector and exercise dominance in the market. They have a high market value and carry out their activities on a large scale, offering a wide variety of products (from hardware and software to automobiles) and services.
Know more: 5 methodologies that can help develop ideas and create startups
Big techno Brazil
Big techs are present all over the world, including in Brazil. Some of the main technology giants settled in Brazil in the early 2000s, in a period that follows greater economic openness in the country and which was marked by the reception of large amounts of foreign investment direct. One such company is Google, which opened its office here in the year 2005. Six years later it was Facebook's turn, now part of Meta, to settle in Brazilian lands.
Brazil has its own technology companies, which have been on the market for a long time offering utility services to the consumer, especially in the area of mobile telephony, television, hosting and internet, but they haven't yet have the same scale of insertion in the world economy that the big techs we studied earlier have.
Brazilian legislation presents some devices that seek to regulate the performance of technology companies in the national territory, which go beyond the self-regulation mechanisms through which most big techs opera. These laws deal mainly with the privacy of user data, such as the Civil Rights Framework for the Internet (2014) and the General Personal Data Protection Act (2018).
It is currently up for vote. to PL2660, or PL of Fake News, which aims to establish the Brazilian Law of Freedom, Responsibility and Transparency on the Internet for regulate digital platforms in the country and prevent the spread of fake news and other criminal content in social media. The proposal has divided opinions in Brazilian society and has given rise to a movement of big techs against the approval of this bill.
Big tech crisis
The impact of big techs has escalated very quickly in recent years, especially during the pandemicCovid-19 between 2020 and 2022, when security measures such as the lockdown intensified the use of digital platforms for communication and information sharing. Big tech reached its highest market values during this period. With the gradual end of the pandemic and the easing of sanitary measures, big techs today face an economic crisis scenario that led to mass layoffs across the world since the end of 2022.
image credits
[1]worldly / Shuttertock
[2]SgtShyGuy/Wikimedia Commons
[3] achintamb/ Shutterstock
Grades
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By Paloma Guitarrara
Geography Teacher
