What Tech Bust? Big Tech Stocks Gained $2 Trillion in Roaring Start to 2023

The 19 largest tech companies all saw their market capitalizations grow in the first quarter of 2023, and Apple leads the way with a $500 billion increase

Of 74 tech stocks screened by MarketWatch, 60 had notched first-quarter gains in their market capitalization through Thursday’s close.

Big Tech had a big first quarter, with the largest 10 companies growing their market value by nearly $2 trillion to start the year.

After an inauspicious 2022 that saw shares of Tesla Inc. (TSLA) and Facebook-parent Meta Platforms Inc. (META) post their largest annual percentage declines on record, the technology sector has rebounded sharply to kick off 2023 amid greater economic confidence and cost-cutting pushes by many companies in the industry.

The 19 largest tech companies all have seen their market capitalizations grow so far in 2023, according to a MarketWatch screen of companies in the S&P 500 information technology sector along with eight other large tech-focused names that are technically classified in other sectors. Of the 74 stocks screened, 60 had notched first-quarter gains through Thursday's close, with the group as a whole netting almost $2.4 trillion in market-cap increases.

Apple Inc. (AAPL), the most valuable publicly listed U.S. company, is also the biggest contributor of market-cap gains this quarter, with its value alone rising by $502 billion through Thursday's close. The company suffered late last year as COVID-19 restrictions impacted production in China, but conditions there have since improved. The second largest company, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), is next with $327 billion in market-cap gains as it benefited from artificial-intelligence buzz through its investment in ChatGPT creator OpenAI.

The third largest contributor perhaps is more surprising. Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) was nearly a third the size of Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) and less than half the size of Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) at the end of 2022, but the chip maker has seen its market value almost double through the first three months of 2023 as it's also viewed as a play on AI. Nvidia had chipped in $317 billion to the sector's market-cap increase as of Thursday's close.

Next up is Tesla Inc., racking up $229 billion in market-cap gains as its stock heads for its best quarter since 2020; Meta Platforms Inc. (META), notching $191 billion in market-cap gains as investors continue to cheer the social-media company's ongoing cost cuts; and Amazon and Google-parent Alphabet, which are contributing in $188 billion and $139 billion in gains, respectively.

There's a sizable drop-off outside the seven largest players. Rounding out the top 10 biggest U.S. tech companies are Broadcom Inc. $(AVGO)$ ($31 billion in first-quarter market-cap gains), Oracle Corp. (ORCL) ($24 billion in gains) and Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) ($15 billion in gains).

Shares of Salesforce Inc. (CRM), Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) and Intel Corp. (INTC) have also seen big rallies this quarter that have led to sizable valuation increases. Salesforce is worth $64 billion more than it was at the start of the quarter, as the software giant has become more focused on profits. AMD is worth $53 billion more, while Intel is worth $24 billion more, with both names benefiting from improved sentiment toward the chip sector in the wake of concerns last year about a cool-down in pandemic-driven tech purchases. Intel's stock is on pace for its best month since November 2001.

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