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Samsung is 10th most valuable tech firm: data

May 15, 2015
Attendees gather outside the Samsung booth, featuring its new SUHD TV, at the International CES Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2015, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Attendees gather outside the Samsung booth, featuring its new SUHD TV, at the International CES Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2015, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

SEOUL, May 15 (Yonhap) — Samsung Electronics Co., South Korea’s top smartphone maker, managed to stay on the top 10 list of global tech players this month in terms of market capitalization but suffered a one notch decline from end-2014 apparently due to a plunge in earnings.

Samsung ranked No. 10 among other major tech firms with a market cap of US$189.7 billion as of May 1, according to the figures compiled by the Institute for Information & Communications Technology Promotion, which cited S&P Capital IQ. It marked a step down from last year despite increasing its cap from $178 billion.

U.S. Apple Inc., Samsung’s long-standing rival in the smartphone segment, stood on top with a market capitalization of $742.8 billion, marking the fourth-consecutive year its kept the throne in the global technology realm, the data also showed.

Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc. followed with market caps of $394.7 and $371.5, respectively. Facebook Inc. held $221.7 billion.

While Samsung once stood in the sixth spot at end-2012 with a market cap hovering above $200 billion, it has continued to slip amid declining profit, moving down to the seventh spot by posting a market cap of $189.2 billion in 2013.

Industry watchers cited the slowing sales of its smartphones in the face of the rise of Chinese firms, which roll out devices with price competitiveness. Apple also maintained its popularity in the high-end sector, giving less room for Samsung.

Six of the top 10 firms were based in the United States, while three of them — China Mobile, Alibaba Group and Tencent — were from China.