In this article, we are going to list the 12 biggest Chinese software companies.
The Chinese economy has seen astounding growth over the last few decades. With the world’s second-largest economy and the world’s largest mobile payment penetration, China has become a global technology leader, and many global companies are assessing the country’s present and future outlook. China is home to some of the largest software companies in the world, such as Huawei, Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent, and Xiaomi. The country’s technological innovation has been an advantage for it to be home to huge investments in AI, 5G, self-driving cars, robotics, electric vehicles, and even missions to Mars. Check out the top 10 robotics and artificial intelligence stocks to buy in our article here.
In the last decade, China’s software market has experienced impressive growth and has become a key industry in the country’s economy as a whole. The Software as a Service (SaaS) market in China is one of the fastest-growing markets in the world and the current boom has only really begun. In the first half of 2020, China’s software industry posted 6.7% year-on-year revenue growth, showing a positive resumption of work and production. According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in the first half of 2020, the country’s software industry generated sales revenue of 3.56 trillion yuan (approximately $ 508 billion), an increase of 6.7% year-on-year and 12.9% points higher than the first quarter of the year. In the first half of the year, software exports also rose steadily in the Chinese software industry to $22.3 billion, down 0.4% year-on-year. As the technology industry of the country develops, its products are becoming more popular abroad and have been able to compete with the incumbents of the industry.
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The software industry in China is pretty competitive with several highly profitable tech giants. In a 2018 annual report by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, China has 9 of the top 20 tech giants in the world. Check out the 10 best tech stocks to invest in right now in our separate article. Both B2C and B2B companies benefit from China’s growing software market. Various enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) systems, data mining, and IT services for companies are in high demand. As you go through our list of the biggest Chinese software companies, you will encounter various tech-related applications that develop and create software in different sectors.
The pandemic has drastically changed media consumption patterns across China, driving record-high internet and app usage which is one of several notable trends that shape the country’s internet economy in 2020. The country saw an increase in engagement in mobile payments, whether it’s shopping for groceries, hailing taxis, or paying a bill at a restaurant. It is no doubt, modernization in China has been expedited by the pandemic. The coronavirus has accelerated digitalization across different sectors such as online learning and new training in education, telemedicine, and knowledge sharing are on the rise in healthcare, and recruitment is shifting to video interviews and virtual job fairs as the norm. Most importantly, much Chinese software has played an important role in stopping the coronavirus outbreak, resulting in increased further growth of these emerging technologies.
To give you the most accurate ranking of the biggest Chinese software companies, we collected and sorted each company’s financial values such as their revenue, market cap, total assets, and the number of employees. We sourced our data from Forbes and for some of the companies that don’t have their financial statement recorded in Forbes, we researched their latest annual report for reference. So, without further ado, let’s look at the biggest Chinese software companies in the world starting at number 12:
12. NARI Technology Development
Revenue: $4.3 billion
Market cap: $13.1 billion
Assets: $7.8 billion
Number of employees: 7,074
Headquarters: Nanjing, China
NARI Technology Co., Ltd. is a Chinese company primarily engaged in the development, production, and sale of hardware and software products related to the power industry. The main products of the company include power grid automation products, power generation, and new energy products, energy-saving and environmental protection products, industrial control products
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11. Hikvision
Revenue: $8.1 billion
Market cap: $42.5 billion
Assets: $10.3 billion
Number of employees: 40,403
Headquarters: Hangzhou, China
Hikvision ranks 11th in our list of the biggest Chinese software companies. Hikvision offers video surveillance products and vertical market solutions to the global market through more than 2,400 partners in 155 countries and regions. In addition to developing surveillance cameras, its business activities include providing services for hard disk recorders, video codes, video servers, ball machine monitoring, road mounts, and other products, as well as security services.
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10. Meituan Dianping
Revenue:$14.1 billion
Market cap:$77.9 billion
Assets:$19 billion
Number of employees: 54,580
Headquarters: Beijing, China
Meituan Dianping ranks 10th in our list of the biggest Chinese software companies. Meituan Dianping is an investment holding company involved in providing a platform that uses technology to connect consumers and traders. The largest food delivery platform, Meituan Waimai was developed by Meituan. Meituan is an e-commerce platform providing over 200 service categories, including catering, on-demand, car-hailing, bike-sharing, hotel, and travel booking, film ticketing, and other entertainment and lifestyle services. The company develops software for well-known mobile applications in China, including Meituan, Dianping, Meituan Waimai, Mobike, and others.
9. Baidu Inc (NASDAQ: BIDU)
Revenue: $15.5 billion
Market cap: $86.21 billion
Assets: $43.3 billion
Number of employees: 37,779
Headquarters: Beijing, China
Baidu is one of the Chinese software giants in the world specializing in Internet-related services and products. Baidu also develops AI products such as a voice assistant and smart devices, AI solutions and cloud services, and autonomous driving and smart transportation.
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8. ByteDance
Revenue:$20 billion
Number of employees: 60,000
Headquarters: Beijing, China
ByteDance ranks 8th in our list of the biggest Chinese software companies. ByteDance is an Internet technology and software company that enables the discovery of a world of creative content platforms powered by leading technology. ByteDance was founded in March 2012 by Zhang Yiming and is best known for its valued mobile entertainment apps. The company focuses on the application of artificial intelligence technology to mobile internet applications. The company owns a number of brands that have been developed in-house, such as Toutiao and TikTok.
7. Haier Group
Revenue: $27.6 billion
Market cap: $14.4 billion
Assets: $26.6 billion
Number of employees: 87,447
Headquarters: Qingdao, China
Haier ranks 7th in our list of the biggest Chinese software companies. Haier Limited is a global consumer electronics and home appliances company. The company designs, develops, manufactures, and sells products such as air conditioners, mobile phones, computers, microwave ovens, washing machines, refrigerators, and televisions.
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6. Xiaomi
Revenue: $29.8 billion
Market cap: $31.5 billion
Assets: 26.4 billion
Number of employees: 18,170
Headquarters: Beijing, China
Sometimes referred to as the Apple of China, Xiaomi is a handset and smartphone manufacturing company with a short history of sales and potential. Xiaomi is a global leader internet company with smartphones and smart hardware linked to the IoT platform at its core. Xiaomi is also one of the companies that have been picked by the Chinese government to advance AI development wherein the firm developed smart home devices. The company also provides internet value-added products including TV boxes, backpacks, phone screen protectors, earphones, etc.
5. Tencent Holdings
Revenue: $54.6 billion
Market cap: $509.7 billion
Assets: $137 billion
Number of employees: 62,885
Headquarters: Shenzhen, China
Tencent Holdings Ltd. is an investment company involved in the production of value-added services and online advertising services. The company provides social networking, music, web portals, e-commerce, mobile games, Internet services, payment systems, entertainment, artificial intelligence, and technology solutions through its subsidiaries. Tencent Holdings is one of the biggest media companies in the world. The most popular product of the company is the WeChat smartphone app, which has over a billion active users and is used for a variety of functions ranging from instant messaging to social networking and payments. The company is also behind some of the most popular mobile games in the United States, including PUBG Mobile and Call Of Duty.
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4. Alibaba (NYSE: BABA)
Revenue: $70.6 billion
Market cap: $699.73 billion
Assets: $189.4 billion
Number of employees: 66,421
Headquarters: Hangzhou, China
Alibaba is the largest e-commerce company in China and one of the most valuable technology companies in the world. All of Alibaba’s software offerings are developed by a wholly-owned subsidiary, Alibaba Software. It operates the most visited online stores in China, including Taobao (consumer-to-consumer) and Tmall (business-to-consumer). Alibaba also owns a 33% stake in Ant Financial through its subsidiaries. Ant Financial develops a proprietary blockchain that is used, among other things, to keep tabs on products sold in the marketplace run by Alibaba. The firm is also investing a lot in its cloud computing business and cloud infrastructure such as data centers.
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3. JD.com Inc (NASDAQ: JD)
Revenue: $83.4 billion
Market cap: $147.1 billion
Assets: $37.3 billion
Number of employees: 220,000
Headquarters: Beijing, China
The Chinese software company, JD.com develops reliable and scalable platforms that bring value to consumers in sectors such as e-commerce, logistics, Internet finance, cloud computing, and smart technology. It is engaged in the manufacture of electronics and general merchandise products, including audio, video products, and books. JD.com also operates a new business segment that includes logistics services provided to third parties, technology services, overseas business, and insurance.
2. China Mobile (NYSE: CHL)
Revenue: $108.1 billion
Market cap: $164.9 billion
Assets: $233.9 billion
Number of employees: 456,239
Headquarters: Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Like many major Chinese companies, China Mobile Ltd. (CHL) is government-owned and operates as an investment holding company. It offers telecommunications services and other related services in Mainland China. The company is primarily a mobile service provider with a large software team of half of its total employees. The firm provides communications services in all 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and directly administered municipalities across Mainland China and Hong Kong.
1. Huawei
Revenue: $122 billion
Assets: $122.947 billion
Number of employees: 194,000
Headquarters: Shenzhen, China
Topping the list of the biggest software companies in the world is Huawei. Huawei, a multinational telecommunications and consumer electronics giant, had a humble beginning as a small-time telecommunications equipment trader in Shenzhen in 1987. The Shenzhen software company has over 190,000 employees and operates in more than 170 countries. With a 20% market share, Huawei is China’s largest smartphone vendor and ranks second-largest in the world, after Samsung. Despite its success in most parts of the world, Huawei has not made major inroads in the U.S. due to security concerns, the U.S. government has discouraged U.S. carriers from buying Huawei’s telecommunications equipment. Although some exemptions have since been granted for the continued purchase of certain American suppliers, Huawei has been competing to develop its own technologies, including its own HarmonyOS for its own devices.
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Disclosure: No position. 12 biggest Chinese software companies is originally published at Insider Monkey.
