US cements itself as the global centre of tech innovation

Beyond the magnificent seven

But beyond the US tech behemoths, there is a wealth of innovative companies, and while they may not rise to the same scale as the giants, they boast very strong business models setting them up for potentially significant future growth.

California-based ServiceNow, for instance, has a cloud computing platform which helps firms manage digital workflows. Essentially it is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) operation which focuses on inward-facing parts of an organisation, helping companies manage IT service requests and human resources processes. Some 85% of the Fortune 500 work with the firm which has seen its shares rise by more than 50% over the past year.

Electronic systems design specialist Cadence – another California native – provides software which enables users to design and simulate how a semiconductor or a system works, before it goes into the costly production stage. The firm has seen its shares jump 38% over the past 12 months.

Unsurprisingly in today’s digital economy, cybersecurity is a key growth area – especially as the damage caused by digital breaches is expected to hit $10.5trn annually by 2025 – a 300% increase from 2015 levels.
 ^{It’s a market forecast to grow to $425bn by 2030 – up from $154bn in 2022.}

Again, the US is home to numerous market leaders in the space including Palo Alto Networks which provides services ranging from vulnerability assessments to managed security services and even damage control consulting. The sector’s potential and the company’s foothold in the space has taken its shares up by 55% over the past year. Other US leaders in the sector include cloud security company Zscaler and Texas-based Crowdstrike.