Lede

The largest 10 companies in the technology sector have grown their market value by almost $2 trillion in the first quarter of 2023.

Summary

After a tough year in 2022, the tech sector has rebounded amid greater economic confidence and cost-cutting pushes by many companies in the industry.

Takeaways

• Apple Inc. is the biggest contributor to the market-cap gains this quarter, with its value rising by $502 billion.

• Microsoft Corp. follows closely with $327 billion in market-cap gains, benefiting from artificial-intelligence buzz through its investment in OpenAI.

• Nvidia Corp., viewed as a play on AI, has seen its market value almost double through the first three months of 2023, contributing $317 billion to the sector’s market-cap increase.

• Tesla Inc., Meta Platforms Inc., Amazon.com Inc., and Google-parent Alphabet are also among the top performers, with sizable gains in market-cap.

• Salesforce Inc., Advanced Micro Devices Inc., and Intel Corp. have seen big rallies this quarter that have led to sizable valuation increases.

• Despite the roaring start to 2023, many tech stocks remain lower than they were at the end of 2021, with only 15 out of the 74 screened by MarketWatch trading above their Dec. 31, 2021, closing levels.