Rediff.com« Back to articlePrint this article

These 18 companies are most dangerous competitors in tech

Last updated on: September 25, 2014 22:54 IST

The competition in the tech is the fiercest compared to any other industry in the world where big companies easily kill the small ones or stunt their growth. Photograph: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Competition is good for business. But you better pray that one of these companies is not your rival if you are a tech firm.

In the US, all listed companies need to file Form 10-K which gives government and shareholders detail about their financial performance. In this form, companies also need to mention their competitors.

Bloomberg has ranked technology companies by the number of times they were cited as competitors in the latest Form 10-K filing by different listed firms.

Here are the 18 most dangerous tech rivals.


Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer speaks during her keynote address at the annual Consumer Electronics Show. Photograph: Robert Galbraith/Reuters

Yahoo!

Rank: 14

Number of top 50 firms mentioning it as competitor: 6

Location: California, US

Yahoo is an internet service company that offers various services such as including email, search, news, finance, and photo hosting.


An employee enters the research building of Texas Instruments. Photograph: Eric Gaillard/Reuters

Texas Instruments

Rank: 14

Number of top 50 firms mentioning it as competitor: 6

Location: Texas, US

TI is a global semiconductor design & manufacturing company. It is the third largest manufacturer of semiconductors in the world.


STMicroelectronics executives at the inauguration of new laboratory in Taiwan. Photograph: Courtesy, STMicroelectronics

STMicroelectronics

Rank: 14

Number of top 50 firms mentioning it as competitor: 6

Location: Geneva, Switzerland

Europe’s largest semiconductor company, STMicroelectronics is headquartered in Geneva (Switzerland). According to Wikipedia, the company is world leader in segments such as inkjet printheads, smartcard chips, and computer peripherals.


Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg prepares to speak at a news conference. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Facebook

Rank: 14

Number of top 50 firms mentioning it as competitor: 6

Location: California, US

Facebook is the biggest social networking website that helps user connect with friends, family and acquaintances.


Broadcom Corporation President and Chief Executive Officer Scott McGregor stands in front of the company's logo. Photograph: Pichi Chuang/Reuters

Broadcom

Rank: 14

Number of top 50 firms mentioning it as competitor: 6

Location: California, US

Broadcom Corporation is a semiconductor company that provided chipset for Apple iPhone, iPod, Nintendo, and many of Samsung’s phones such as Galaxy S4 and S5.


Visitors walk through the Toshiba stand. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Toshiba

Rank: 12

Number of top 50 firms mentioning it as competitor: 7

Location: Tokyo, Japan.

Among many engineering and electronics products Toshiba sells; it is the fifth largest computer vendor and also among the top five semiconductor companies in the world.


Visitors look at devices at Accenture stand. Photograph: Albert Gea/Reuters

Accenture

Rank: 12

Number of top 50 firms mentioning it as competitor: 7

Location: Dublin, Ireland

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with more than 293,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries.


Cisco Systems chairman and CEO John Chambers speaks during a press event. Photograph: Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Cisco Systems

Rank: 10

Number of top 50 firms mentioning it as competitor: 8

Location: California, US

Cisco is the worldwide leader in networking that designs, manufactures and sells equipments.


U.S. President Barack Obama makes a speech about the economy and jobs at an Amazon.com Fulfillment Center. Photograph: Jessica McGowan/Getty Images

Amazon.com

Rank: 10

Number of top 50 firms mentioning it as competitor: 8

Location: Washington, United States

Amazon is the world’s largest online retailer. It is also the world’s largest internet company on revenue and number of employees.


A pedestrian walks by an advertisement for chipmaker Intel. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Intel

Rank: 8

Number of top 50 firms mentioning it as competitor: 9

Location: California, US

Intel is the inventor of the chipset (x86) that’s found inside most of the computers in world. It is also the world’s largest and highest valued semiconductor company.


Dell CEO Michael Dell delivers a keynote address during the Oracle Open World conference. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Dell

Rank: 8

Number of top 50 firms mentioning it as competitor: 9

Location: Texas, US

Dell is the biggest computer manufacturer in the world.


Customers attend a workshop about the Samsung Galaxy S5. Photograph: Beawiharta/Reuters

Samsung Electronics

Rank: 7

Number of top 50 firms mentioning it as competitor: 11

Location: Suwon, South Korea.

The flagship company of the Samsung Group, Samsung Electronics is one of the biggest information technology company in the world. According to Wikipedia, it has sales networks in 80 countries and employs around 370,000 people.


Google co-founder and CEO Larry Page speaks during a news conference. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Google

Rank: 5

Number of top 50 firms mentioning it as competitor: 12

Location: California, U.S.

The internet giant, which started as search engine, now offers numerous internet-related services including cloud computing, softwares, and online advertising technologies. It also develops Android operating system for smartphones.


Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks during an Apple product announcement. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Apple

Rank: 5

Number of top 50 firms mentioning it as competitor: 12

Location: California, US

Apple designs and creates iPod and iTunes, Mac laptop and desktop computers.


Oracle Open World attendees walk between venues at the Moscone Center. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Oracle

Rank: 4

Number of top 50 firms mentioning it as competitor: 13

Location: California, United States

The company specialises in developing and marketing computer hardware systems and enterprise software products – particularly its own brands of database management systems, according to Wikipedia.


Meg Whitman, chief executive officer and president of Hewlett-Packard. Photograph: Stephen Lam/Reuters

Hewlett-Packard

Rank: 3

Number of top 50 firms mentioning it as competitor: 15

Location: California, US

HP is one of the biggest manufacturers of computers and printers in the world.


Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella delivers a keynote address during the 2014 Microsoft Build developer conference. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Microsoft

Rank: 2

Number of top 50 firms mentioning it as competitor: 16

Location: Washington, US

The company develops, manufactures, licenses, supports and sells computer software, consumer electronics and personal computers.

Visitors crowd the IBM stand under an the company logo. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

IBM

Rank: 1

Number of top 50 firms mentioning it as competitor: 18

Location: New York, U.S.

IBM is a technology consulting company that also manufactures and sells computer hardware and software. There are many famous invention that IBM is credited with. Some of them include Automated teller machine (ATM), floppy disk, and hard disk drive.