Less than four years ago, when Apple’s stock market value hit $1tn, it felt like a high point for tech stocks. So who would have thought that, in the dying days of 2021, the company that redefined consumer technology would already be on the brink of topping $3tn?
This will go down as a historic period for tech investment. A strong secular growth market, supported by unusually conducive financial conditions, has been capped by a pandemic that forced a stampede into digital services.
The gains from 2021 were not evenly distributed. Some corners of the industry (such as ecommerce) cooled after a red-hot 2020, while some tech stars that shot to prominence early in the pandemic (think Zoom and Peloton) have fallen heavily. But, looked at broadly, the rise of tech, and the disproportionate gains seen by the largest companies in particular, have continued to underpin the wider market rally.