Throughout 2022, the tech space saw major highs and lows. Stock market crashes, scandals, bankruptcy; it's safe to say 2022 was tumultuous. But 2022 was by no means all bad news. Some companies did incredibly well, including industry leaders and new faces. So, who crushed tech in 2022?

1. Alphabet Inc.

alphabet logo in front of computer code

Alphabet Inc. is the parent company of huge tech names such as YouTube, Google, Fitbit, Nest, and Mandiant.

Many companies owned by Alphabet had a great 2022, including YouTube. According to Social Shephard, YouTube has over two billion active users, making it the most popular online video-sharing platform. Google, the largest of the Alphabet Inc. collection, now has over 4.3 billion users (according to the Semrush blog). Bear in mind that this makes up over half of the global population!

Throughout 2022, the Alphabet Inc. conglomerate undoubtedly performed well. According to MacroTrends, between September 2021 and 2022, Alphabet made an incredible $282.113 billion, a 17.94 percent increase year-over-year. This growth is representative of how prevalent Alphabet Inc. is in the tech industry.

2. Axonius

padlock on laptop keyboard

Axonius certainly isn't a household name, but this doesn't mean it's not a company worth watching. This US-based service offers cybersecurity assets management to IT and security teams so they can better protect their systems and data.

Axonius works by "mitigating threats, navigating risk, decreasing incidents, and informing business-level strategy," an invaluable service to many organizations, and Axonius' 2022 performance reflects this.

In late 2022, Axonius ranked as the third fastest-growing company in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500™. Since 2018, Axonius has grown by an incredible 46,000 percent. Reuters reports that Axonius company was valued at $2.6 billion in March 2022 after receiving another round of funding. 2023 may be just as abundant for this company, but time will tell on that one.

3. Linktree

person viewing instagram profile on phone

Linktree is a useful service that allows social media users to share and connect various platforms via links. For example, if you're an Instagram influencer, you can use Linktree to take your profile visitors to your merchandise website, YouTube channel, or other pages, using the Linktree platform. Having all your pages linked in one place makes it much easier for users to navigate a creator or business' various associated platforms.

Linktree gained popularity on Instagram but can be used across various social media outlets. In 2022, Linktree hit an impressive 30-million-user milestone, providing links related to travel, food, sports, gaming, retail, and more. In October 2022 alone, Linktree amassed 21.2 million clicks. This service has become invaluable to many online personalities and is now commonplace on various social media platforms.

4. Tesla

photo of red sign with tesla company logo

Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla has been a leading industry name for some years, with 2022 being another successful year for the company overall.

As of October 2022, Tesla has sold over 3.2 million cars and, according to MacroTrends, has a current net worth of $473.25 billion. Tesla is also the largest EV company in the world at the time of writing, having sold over 340,000 units in Q3 of 2022 alone (as per Statista).

But Tesla has also been at the receiving end of criticism numerous times in 2022. The company's controversies this year include the alleged underreporting of environmental data (as per CDP), various issues with its self-driving feature (as reported by The Guardian), and the tanking of Tesla's share value. Its CEO, Elon Musk, has also been under fire for his handling of Twitter verification, the social media platform he bought earlier in 2022.

5. Intel

close up shot of intel chip on motherboard

Intel has been around longer than many of the other companies discussed here.

Intel is one of the top CPU manufacturers and launched its 13th-Gen Raptor Lake series in 2022. It consists of the flagship i9-13900K and five other chips, including the i7-13700K and the i5-13600K. This was a highly anticipated release, with the i9-13900K receiving rave reviews from the onset, with some stating that it outshone AMD's Ryzen 7000 launch.

The 13th-Gen Raptor Lake series has been noted for its performance, overclocking capabilities, and fair pricing.

6. Oura

Oura has gained a fair amount of renown in the health technology field. It produces smart rings, each a varying generation of the Oura Ring. An Oura smart ring measures blood oxygen levels, activity, body temperature, breathing rate, heart rate, and heart variability to provide the wearer with useful health insights.

In March 2022, Oura hit a milestone when it reached one million rings sold. It was also valued at $2.55 billion in April, which is certainly impressive after less than a decade of operations.

7. Amazon

photo of amazon prime truck driving over bridge

Over the past few years, Amazon has grown exponentially, partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic that left many people without a way to shop in physical stores, and 2022 was just as fruitful.

According to Statista, in Q3 2022, Amazon's net sales amounted to $127.1 billion, $14.1 billion more than in Q3 2021. With over 300 million active users and a number of useful additional services on top of its e-commerce platforms, such as Audible, Prime Video, and Amazon Music, there's no doubt Amazon plays an important role in the lives of millions.

But it's worth noting that Amazon is by no means a perfect company. For example, in late 2022, the Observer reported that Amazon was allegedly planning on laying off as many as 20,000 employees, which will undoubtedly affect many lives if carried out.

8. NVIDIA

photo of nvidia gtx 1080 and rtx 2080 gpus

NVIDIA is a huge player in the tech game, with a current net worth of almost $400 billion. The company is widely known for its top-of-the-range GPUs for gaming, crypto mining, streaming, and other PC-based activities. Though NVIDIA saw some revenue losses throughout 2022, it maintained its position as the most popular GPU producer in the world.

Though NVIDIA's GPUs are undoubtedly powerful, this comes at a cost. With this high performance comes a high level of power consumption. NVIDIA's RTX 4090 consumes so much power that many consider it unsuitable. Some have even reported that their 12VHPWR connectors overheated and melted during use.

9. Apple

picture of building front with apple logo

It's no surprise that Apple made our list of 2022's top-performing companies. Apple has an enormous and loyal customer base, and in 2022, we were reminded of Apple's reach.

Apple's official Q4 2022 report saw it beat Wall Street predictions, boasting revenue of $90.15 billion, $1.25 billion more than expected. All in all, Apple's revenue almost reached $400 billion (as found by Statista), a 7.79 percent increase from 2021.

What's more, Apple's revenue has quadrupled over the past decade. This is no surprise, as according to Demand Sage, the company sold a shocking 2.2 billion iPhone units as of 2022.

10. Nonacus

person typing on laptop next to stethoscope

There's a good chance you haven't heard of Nonacus before, but this company is making major strides in genomic healthcare tech. Nonacus specializes in non-invasive healthcare procedures.

Impressively, Nonacus ranked third in Deloitte's Fast 50™ list in 2022. By the end of 2021, the company had amassed a net worth of over $25 million (as per Company Check), which isn't too shabby for a company that was only founded in 2015. This organization has a bright future, and we're excited to see what it will achieve in 2023.

2023 Is an Exciting Year for Tech

Nowadays, the tech field moves so fast that there's no knowing what exciting companies we'll be talking about at the end of 2023. We may see new faces on our list—but many of the names listed here will power through.