S. Korea places 5th with 66 firms on Forbes Global 2000; SK hynix jumps 107 spots

South Korea placed fifth globally with 66 companies on this year's Forbes Global 2000 list of the world's largest publicly traded firms, while the United States led with 593 entries.

According to the rankings Forbes released June 25 (local time), the combined assets of all 2,000 companies reached $272.2 trillion.

Their combined market capitalization stood at $121.9 trillion, with annual sales of $56 trillion and operating profit of $5.5 trillion.

Forbes ranks companies based on a composite of sales, profit, assets and market capitalization.

South Korea had 66 companies on the list, including Samsung Electronics, the fifth-highest country total worldwide.

Among Korean companies, Samsung Electronics ranked highest at No. 15, followed by SK hynix at No. 48.

Hyundai Motor came in at No. 75, while KB Financial Group and Kia ranked 230th and 254th, respectively.

Other Korean companies on the list included Shinhan Financial Group (286th), Korea Electric Power (319th), SK Group (363rd), Samsung Life Insurance (372nd), Hana Financial Group (380th), Hyundai Mobis (382nd), Samsung C&T (395th), Woori Financial Group (507th), Hanwha Aerospace (635th) and LG Electronics (638th).

The United States had the most entries by far, with 592 companies — roughly 30 percent of the full list.

JPMorgan Chase claimed the top spot for the fourth consecutive year. It was joined by Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and Alphabet (Google) in sweeping four of the top five positions.

Bank of America and Microsoft tied for seventh, while Apple (11th), ExxonMobil (14th), Meta (18th), Citigroup (18th), Goldman Sachs (19th) and Wells Fargo (20th) also ranked in the upper tier.

China was second with 340 companies, led by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (6th), China Construction Bank (9th) and Agricultural Bank of China (10th).

Japan ranked third with 179 companies, though its highest-placed firm was Toyota Motor at No. 17. Britain edged out South Korea with 67 companies, including HSBC at No. 13.

Canada and India each had 64 companies, followed by Germany with 49, France with 45 and Taiwan with 44.

This year's rankings saw sharp movement as the market capitalizations of AI-related companies surged.

Hardware and computer equipment suppliers, semiconductor firms, and software companies — including Microsoft and Meta — accounted for 209 entries, or more than 10 percent of the full list, up from 186 last year.

The combined market cap of these technology companies nearly doubled, rising from $23.9 trillion to $41.4 trillion, and accounted for roughly half of the total market cap growth recorded last year.

In the semiconductor sector in particular, Nvidia climbed 20 spots to No. 27, while SK hynix — which produces high bandwidth memory (HBM) essential for AI servers — surged 107 places to No. 48.

Forbes said the companies that have benefited most from AI illustrate how broadly trade in the sector has expanded, adding that investors' enthusiasm for AI is driving revenue and corporate value gains across global markets.