Forbes’ 2026 Global 2000, the 24th edition of the ranking of the world’s largest publicly traded companies, shows new records across the board and a notable reshuffling driven largely by artificial intelligence. The list ranks firms by combined revenue, profit, assets and market value.
Key figures for 2026
- Combined annual revenue of Global 2000 companies reached $56 trillion, 6% above last year’s record.
- Aggregate profit rose to $5.5 trillion (+13.9%).
- Total assets increased to $272 trillion (+12.9%).
- Combined market value of the companies jumped 31.8% year-on-year, adding more than $30 trillion of shareholder value.
Although banks remain dominant on the ranking by asset size, this year’s reshuffle was powered mainly by AI-related market-value gains. Hardware manufacturers, semiconductor companies, software firms and cloud providers now make up more than 10% of the list — 209 companies versus 186 last year. Their combined market capitalization rose from $23.9 trillion to $41.4 trillion, accounting for 57% of the Global 2000’s total market-value increase.
Winners of the AI rally
Investor enthusiasm for AI particularly rewarded companies that supply chips, memory, servers and infrastructure. Notable moves include:
- Nvidia: climbed 20 places to No. 27, becoming the most valuable chipmaker on the list.
- SK Hynix: jumped 107 places to No. 48.
- Hon Hai Precision (Foxconn): up 55 places to No. 82.
- SanDisk: re-entered the ranking at No. 614 after being outside the Top 2000 last year.
- Alphabet: moved up five places to No. 4 among software and cloud providers.
- CoreWeave: after first appearing on the list last year, improved 706 places to No. 1,093.
The AI investment wave also lifted commodity and materials producers because demand for the physical inputs of chipmaking rose. Global 2000 commodity companies saw combined market value increase 67.5% and profits grow by 38.6% as investors revalued producers linked to copper, cobalt, lithium and other materials needed for semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, energy systems and data centers.
Infrastructure and data centers
Contractors that build, cable and equip massive data centers had a strong year. Construction firms’ combined market value rose 30.7% and profits jumped 46.4%. Examples:
- Comfort Systems USA: improved 698 places to No. 93; the company says data-center and chip-manufacturing customers now account for more than half of its roughly $10 billion annual revenue.
- Vertiv Holdings: up 353 places to No. 821; order backlog reportedly more than doubled to $15 billion by the end of 2025.
Banks still dominate
Banks continue to dominate the Global 2000 by count and assets: 314 banks appear on the list, holding $140.4 trillion of assets — more than half of the ranking’s total assets. JPMorganChase holds the No. 1 spot for the fourth consecutive year with $4.90 trillion in assets.
Top 10 and geographic breakdown
JPMorganChase leads the ranking; Amazon is No. 2 with $742.78 billion in revenue and a $2.84 trillion market value. Alphabet is No. 4 and Microsoft ties for No. 7. The United States leads by headquarters with 593 companies (down from 612 last year); China (including Hong Kong) provides 340 firms in total. Japan has 179 companies on the list.
Defense and aerospace
Prolonged conflicts in the Middle East and higher defense spending boosted profits in aerospace and defense by 78.5%. Examples of big movers:
- Safran: up 398 places to No. 211.
- Boeing: jumped 289 places to No. 160.
- Rolls-Royce: rose 67 places to No. 263.
Hungarian companies on the Global 2000
Two Hungarian companies are on the 2026 list: OTP Bank and Mol.
- OTP Bank (Budapest) is ranked No. 398: revenue $14.33 billion, profit $3.33 billion, assets $142.80 billion, market value $35.66 billion. OTP is the second-best performing Central and Eastern European bank on the list, behind Austria’s Erste.
- Mol (Budapest) is ranked No. 1,239: revenue $25.20 billion, profit $544.5 million, assets $27.17 billion, market value $10.31 billion.
MBH Bank, which appeared on last year’s list, has dropped out this year.
What the shift means
The Global 2000 continues to reflect both the “old” and the “new” economy: banks and oil companies retain large asset bases and cash-generation capacity, while retailers still lead on revenue. Yet in 2026 markets clearly priced in a future centered on artificial intelligence and the companies that supply its critical hardware and infrastructure. Whether investors’ assessment will hold over the long term remains to be seen.
Forbes Global 2000 — 2026: top 25 (highlighted data)
The list’s leaders include banks, retailers, energy firms and tech giants; the full top-25 is determined from the four composite metrics: revenue, profit, assets and market value.
(Source: Forbes Global 2000 — 2026, aggregated ranking data.)
