When it comes to measuring GDP, people will often compare countries’ economies or even states within those countries. But they rarely look at the GDP of entire continents.
When comparing the GDP of continents, Asia is by far the richest with an estimated $40 trillion, compared to North America at $31 trillion. It’s no surprise to see North America with such a large GDP, given all of the major companies located in the United States. But what are the huge companies from Asia that are contributing to such a massive GDP?
Understanding what the largest stocks are in Asia can be very helpful to those looking to invest internationally. For example, check out this article about impact investing in Asia.
In this article, we’re going to be going over the top four largest companies that have their headquarters somewhere in Asia.
1. Saudi Aramco
Headquartered in Saudi Arabia, a country in Western Asia, Saudi Aramco is the largest publicly traded company in Asia and the third largest company in the world. Their stock price is $9.23, and they have a market cap of $2.23 trillion.
Saudi Aramco is a national company in Saudi Arabia, and is the largest producer of oil in the world and second largest holder of crude oil reserves. The company was founded in 1933 and their headquarters are based in the city of Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Despite being a 90 year old company, they only went public in 2019 making their IPO on the Riyadh stock market.
2. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited
Also known as TSMC, this semiconductor company is the world’s third largest manufacturer of semiconductor and largest independent manufacturer of semiconductor parts. They are the world’s 12th most valuable company, and have a market cap of $482 billion and a stock price of $93.07.
The company was founded 36 years ago in Hsinchu, Taiwan, where their headquarters remain today. They went public in 1994, making their IPO in the Taiwan Stock Exchange, and then listing themselves on the NYSE in 1997 using depositary shares.
3. Tencent
Tencent is a Chinese tech giant focusing on social media services. They are the 20th most valuable company in the world, and the most valuable company in China. They have a market cap of $404 billion and a share price of $42.24. They specialize in messaging services, social networks, online media, internet value-added services, multiplayer online games, such as MMO and MMORPGs, as well as e-commerce and online advertising. Two of their more popular platforms are WeChat and QQ.
Another popular video game company that Tencent owns is Epic Games, the creators of the extremely successful free-to-play game, Fortnite. Check out the Epic Games store here to see all of the games you can download using their launcher.
Tencent was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. They were the first Asian technology company to pass the $500 billion USD valuation threshold in 2018, even hitting $1 trillion USD in January of 2021 before ultimately plummeting.
4. Kweichow Moutai
A producer of high-end liquors in China, Kweichow Moutai is the 4th largest publicly traded Asian company, and the 27th largest in the world. They have a market cap of $317 billion, and a share price of $252.84.
Founded in 1999, they’re the youngest company on our list. They were listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2001, and briefly surpassed TenCent in market cap in 2022 after Tencent crashed in price.
Takeaways
If you found this article useful, consider checking out this site here that ranks all the publicly traded companies by their market cap.
