Still debating the AI hype? That’s cute.
According to the Brand Finance Global 500 for 2025 one thing is clear: tech companies that leaned hard into AI are so far ahead, it is starting to look unfair.
The ranking looks at brand value (the financial worth of a brand) and brand strength (a combo of familiarity, reputation, and performance).
Brands that trust the AI hype
The top 10 is packed with the usual suspects, but the difference this year is what’s fuelling the growth. Two letters: AI.
Nvidia is the moment
Nvidia stopped climbing the ranks and just sprinted to the top. The company went from 56th to 6th place globally, adding a staggering $163 billion in brand value.
I’ll repeat: From 56th to 6th.
That’s a 163% increase year-on-year, the biggest gain of any brand on the list. Nvidia’s chips now power the world’s largest language models.
Every time someone spins up a ChatGPT session, trains a vision model, or runs a generative workflow, there’s a high chance Nvidia is involved.
Microsoft holds steady
Microsoft dropped from first to second place, while its brand value holds at $461.1 billion.
The corporate giant remains dominant thanks to its integration of AI across enterprise, cloud, and consumer platforms.
Microsoft offers Copilot in Office and boasts a multibillion-dollar OpenAI partnership.
Top 10 brands
Amazon and Google also round out the top five. TikTok holds steady at 7th, while Meta (Facebook) sits at 8th.
Nvidia’s surge might make headlines, but other brands are quietly gaining ground too.
Walmart climbed into 5th, riding a 42% jump in brand value. This is proof that innovation in logistics and retail (AI-driven or otherwise) still moves the needle.
Even brands like Oracle (+8%) and Home Depot (+23%) saw notable gains, showing that AI’s impact isn’t just for cloud titans and chipmakers.
By brand value:
- Apple: $574.5B
- Microsoft: $461.1B
- Google: $413.0B
- Amazon: $356.4B
- Walmart: $137.2B
- Samsung Group: $110.6B
- TikTok/Douyin: $105.8B
- Facebook (Meta): $91.5B
- Nvidia: $87.9B
- State Grid Corporation of China: $85.6B
And the AI hype losers
Not every brand thrived.
Starbucks dropped 30 places, with a 36% collapse in brand value (its lowest ranking since 2016). Blame a shaky pivot to digital, reputational backlash, and a revolving door of executives.
Then there’s Elon Musk’s X (formerly known as Twitter, back when it was vaguely functional).
The social media giant is clinging to relevance with a brand value under $500 million; down 91% since 2022.
Ad spend vanished. Trust eroded. And familiarity dropped across the board.
In fact, it’s the most dramatic fall in the rankings and a brutal reminder that credibility is vital for brand value.
Tesla saw a similar 26% decline, while legacy sectors like telecoms and banks mostly stalled, punished not by failure, but by fear of bold moves.
What this means for SA and the global south
Local brands like MTN and Capitec may not make the global 500, but the message is loud: brand value in 2025 is tied to perceived innovation.
If you’re not experimenting with AI, you’re invisible and irrelevant.
For emerging markets, this presents both a threat and an opportunity.
There’s space to leapfrog…. but only if companies stop waiting for perfect conditions and just start building for the damn future already.