The 15 largest technology companies in the world

15. Intel
* Revenue: $52.70 Billion
* Number of Employees: 104,700
* A chip maker, Intel is the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors, which are found in most personal computers.
Did you know? Intel is short for Integrated Electronics.

14. LG Electronics
* Revenue: $54.75 Billion
* Number of Employees: 38,718
* LG Electronics' products include televisions, home-theater systems, refrigerators, washing machines, computer monitors, and smartphones. LG Electronics is currently the world's second-largest television manufacturer.

13. Toshiba
* Revenue: $56.20 Billion
* Number of Employees: 206,087
* Japanese multinational engineering and electronics conglomerate Toshiba was named the world's fifth-largest personal computer vendor measured by revenues as well as the world's fourth-largest manufacturer of semiconductors by revenues.
Did you know? Toshiba was first registered as Tokyo Shibaura Electric K.K.

12. Dell
* Revenue: $56.94 Billion
* Number of Employees: 108,800
* Michael Dell created PC's Limited while he was a student, Dell dropped out of school and in 1985 the company created the first computer of its own design, the Turbo PC, which sold for $795. The company grossed more than $73 million in its first year of operation.

11. Google
* Revenue: $59.82 Billion
* Number of Employees: 53,546
* Google was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were Ph.D. students at Stanford University. Rapid growth since incorporation has triggered a chain of products, acquisitions, and partnerships beyond Google's core search engine. It offers online productivity software including email (Gmail), a cloud storage service (Google Drive), an office suite (Google Docs), and a social-networking service (Google+). Desktop products include applications for web browsing, organizing and editing photos, and instant messaging. Google's market dominance has led to prominent media coverage, including criticism of the company over issues such as copyright, censorship, and privacy.
Did you know? Google uses various tax-avoidance strategies. Out of the five largest American technology companies, it pays the lowest taxes to the countries of origin of its revenues.

10. Panasonic
* Revenue: $70.83 Billion
* Number of Employees: 327,512
* Panasonic was founded in 1918 by Konosuke Matsushita as a vendor of duplex lamp sockets. During World War II, the company operated factories in Japan and other parts of Asia, which produced electrical components and appliances such as light fixtures, motors, electric irons, wireless equipment, and its first vacuum tubes.

9. Sony
* Revenue: $ 72.34 Billion
* Number of Employees: 146,300
* Sony's diversified business is primarily focused on the electronics, game, entertainment, and financial services sectors.
Did you know? The company has produced many notable movie franchises, including Spider-Man, The Karate Kid, and Men in Black.

8. Amazon
* Revenue: $ 74.45 Billion
* Number of Employees: 117,300
* World's largest online retailer Amazon.com started as an online bookstore, but soon diversified, selling DVDs, VHSs, CDs, video and MP3 downloads/streaming, software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, food, toys, and jewelry. Amazon Prime Air is a possible future delivery service expected to be in development for several more years. In concept, the process would use drones to deliver small packages (less than five pounds) within 30 minutes.

7. Microsoft
* Revenue: $ 86.83 Billion
* Number of Employees: 128,076
* Microsoft is the world's largest software maker measured by revenues. It is also one of the world's most valuable companies. With the acquisition of Nokia's devices and services division to form Microsoft Mobile Oy, the company has re-entered the smartphone hardware market, after its previous attempt, Microsoft Kin, which resulted from their acquisition of Danger Inc.

6. Hitachi
* Revenue: $87.51 Billion
* Number of Employees: 326,240
* Hitachi, Ltd is a Japanese multinational engineering and electronics conglomerate company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent of the Hitachi Group and forms part of the DKB Group of Companies. Hitachi is a highly diversified firm that operates eleven business segments: Information & Telecommunication Systems, Social Infrastructure, High Functional Materials & Components, Financial Services, Power Systems, Electronic Systems & Equipment, Automotive Systems, Railway & Urban Systems, Digital Media & Consumer Products, Construction Machinery and Other Components & Systems.

5. IBM
* Revenue: $99.75 Billion
* Number of Employees: 433,362
* The International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) was founded in 1911. In 2012, Fortune ranked IBM the no. 2 largest U.S. firm in terms of number of employees (435,000 worldwide), the no. 4 largest in terms of market capitalization, the no. 9 most profitable, and the no. 19 largest firm in terms of revenue. Globally, the company was ranked the no. 31 largest in terms of revenue by Forbes for 2011. Other rankings for 2011/2012 include no. 1 company for leaders (Fortune), no. 1 green company worldwide (Newsweek), no. 2 best global brand (Interbrand), no. 2 most respected company (Barron's), no. 5 most admired company (Fortune), and no. 18 most innovative company (Fast Company).
DId you know? Its employees have garnered five Nobel Prizes, six Turing Awards, 10 National Medals of Technology, and five National Medals of Science. Notable inventions by IBM include the automated teller machine (ATM), the floppy disk, the hard-disk drive, the magnetic-stripe card, the relational database, the Universal Product Code (UPC), the financial swap, the RDBMS and SQL, the SABRE airline reservation system, DRAM, and Watson artificial intelligence.

4. HP
* Revenue: $112.3 Billion
* Number of Employees: 317,500
* HP was founded in a one-car garage in Palo Alto by William "Bill" Redington Hewlett and Dave Packard and is the world's leading PC manufacturer. In 2013, it was the world's second-largest PC vendor by unit sales.

3. Foxconn
* Revenue: $132.07 Billion
* Number of Employees: 1,290,000
* Foxconn Technology Group is a Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturing company. It is the world's largest electronics contractor manufacturer and the third-largest information technology company by revenue. Foxconn has been involved in several controversies relating to how it manages employees in China, where it is the largest private employer, because of a grim history of suicides at its factories. In January 2012, about 150 Foxconn employees threatened to commit mass suicide in protest of their working conditions.

2. Apple Inc.
* Revenue: $170.91 Billion
* Number of Employees: 80,300
* Apple was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne on April 1, 1976, to develop and sell personal computers. Today, Apple maintains 425 retail stores in 14 countries, as well as the online Apple Store and iTunes Store, the latter of which is the world's largest music retailer. Apple is the largest publicly traded corporation in the world by market capitalization. Apple is the world's second-largest information technology company by revenue after Samsung Electronics, and the world's third-largest mobile-phone maker after Samsung and Nokia. Fortune magazine named Apple the most admired company in the United States in 2008 and in the world from 2008 to 2012.

1. Samsung Electronics
* Revenue: $212.68 Billion
* Number of Employees: 270,000
* Samsung has been the world's largest maker of LCD panels since 2002, the world's largest television manufacturer since 2006, and the world's largest manufacturer of mobile phones since 2011.
Did you know? In Samsung’s Gi-Heung and On-Yang semiconductor plants, at least 26 employees were diagnosed with blood cancer. A total of 193 persons got sick with cancers or rare terminal diseases.