Chinese companies excel in this year's Fortune Global 500

Chinese companies top this year's Fortune Global 500 list with 142 entries, followed by 136 in the US and 41 Japanese ones.

The 142 China-headquartered Fortune Global 500 companies on this year's list is up from 95 a decade ago, and China has more companies on the list than the US for the fifth year in a row.

There were 39 newcomers to this year's Fortune Global 500, including 23 companies making their debut, such as first time Chinese companies Contemporary Amperex Technology and Meituan, according to the latest ranking released on Wednesday.

The combined revenue of the top 500 entrants reached a record high of US$41 trillion, US$13 trillion contributed by US companies and US$11.7 trillion by Chinese ones.

Out of the 135 Chinese mainland and Hong Kong companies on the ranking, 35 reported improvement in their positions while 89 companies dropped.

Ti Gong

Nine Chinese automobile enterprises entered the ranking with two notable new-energy vehicle and technology leaders. BYD is the fastest rising Chinese company, landing at the 212th position from the No.436 ranking last year, and newcomer Contemporary Amperex Technology stood at the 292th position.

As technological change and scientific breakthroughs threaten established leaders and elevate new winners, Walmart remains the top for the 10th consecutive year, while Saudi Aramco jumped up four spots as tightened oil supply pushed up fossil fuel production.

Big tech, meanwhile, proved it also remains a robust and profitable sector.

Three technology companies, namely, Apple, Microsoft and Alphabet, are on the top five most profitable list, and the most profitable Chinese companies are Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, and Agricultural Bank of China.

This year, there were altogether eight Internet companies on the list with four each from China and the United States.

Both Meituan and Uber are newcomers to the list but five out of the top six saw their ranking slip this year with the exception of Alphabet which kept its position unchanged.

Companies are ranked by total revenues for their respective fiscal years ending on or before the end of March this year.