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> Can't even imagine that scaled up to Apple size. Have you ever dealt with a big government? Then you can imagine, Apple doesn't have as much weight as typica

> Can't even imagine that scaled up to Apple size. Have you ever dealt with a big government? Then you can imagine, Apple doesn't have as much weight as typical governments but it is close.

xpe 3y ago
Typical how? Weight as defined how? Here is one way of looking at it. First, look at purchasing power of various governments. See https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/real-gdp-purchasing-power-parity/country-comparison/ https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/real-gdp-purcha.... > Real GDP (purchasing power parity): GDP (purchasing power parity) compares the gross domestic product (GDP) or value of all final goods and services produced within a nation in a given year. A nation's GDP at purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rates is the sum value of all goods and services produced in the country valued at prices prevailing in the United States. Second, look at COGS for Apple: "Apple annual cost of goods sold for 2021 was $212.981B" according to https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/AAPL/apple/cost-goods-sold https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/AAPL/apple/cost-go.... COGS is arguably "close enough" to a nation-state's GDP to make for a useful comparison. Given the above two, if Apple were a country with a GDP matching its COGS, it would rank about 66th, using a mix of 2022/2021 numbers from the sources above: 1 China $24,861B 2 United States $21,132B 3 India $9,279B 4 Japan $5,126B 5 Germany $4,523B 6 Russia $4,027B 7 Indonesia $3,246B 8 United Kingdom $3,136B 9 Brazil $3,128B 10 France $3,048B 11 Turkey $2,817B 12 Italy $2,478B 13 Mexico $2,418B 14 South Korea $2,289B 15 Canada $1,832B ... 36 Switzerland $618B 37 Belgium $600B 38 Sweden $580B 39 Singapore $578B 40 Ireland $516B ... 63 Kenya $251B 64 New Zealand $220B 65 Burma $217B 66 Dominican Republic $207B 67 Angola $204B 68 Kuwait $192B 69 Ecuador $190B 70 Belarus $184B ... 150 Namibia $23.1B 151 Kosovo $21.2B 152 South Sudan $20.0B 153 Iceland $20.0B 154 Somalia $19.4B ... 220 Palau $248M 221 Falkland Islands $206M 222 Anguilla $175M 223 Montserrat $167M 224 Nauru $149M 225 Wallis and Futuna $60M 226 Tuvalu $55.2M 227 Saint Helena... $31.1M 228 Niue $18.7M 229 Tokelau $7.7M But I wouldn't stop here. What happens if we compare Apple's COGS with the _technology spend_ of each of the nation-states above? If we estimate that 10% of GDP is technology-related, making it comparable to Apple, then Apple's ranking would be 15th on the list, right in front of Canada.

> Can't even imagine that scaled up to Apple size. Have you ever dealt with a big government? Then you can imagine, Apple doesn't have as much weight as typical governments but it is close.

xpe 3y ago

Typical how? Weight as defined how? Here is one way of looking at it. First, look at purchasing power of various governments. See https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/real-gdp-purchasing-power-parity/country-comparison/ https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/real-gdp-purcha.... > Real GDP (purchasing power parity): GDP (purchasing power parity) compares the gross domestic product (GDP) or value of all final goods and services produced within a nation in a given year. A nation's GDP at purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rates is the sum value of all goods and services produced in the country valued at prices prevailing in the United States. Second, look at COGS for Apple: "Apple annual cost of goods sold for 2021 was $212.981B" according to https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/AAPL/apple/cost-goods-sold https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/AAPL/apple/cost-go.... COGS is arguably "close enough" to a nation-state's GDP to make for a useful comparison. Given the above two, if Apple were a country with a GDP matching its COGS, it would rank about 66th, using a mix of 2022/2021 numbers from the sources above: 1 China $24,861B 2 United States $21,132B 3 India $9,279B 4 Japan $5,126B 5 Germany $4,523B 6 Russia $4,027B 7 Indonesia $3,246B 8 United Kingdom $3,136B 9 Brazil $3,128B 10 France $3,048B 11 Turkey $2,817B 12 Italy $2,478B 13 Mexico $2,418B 14 South Korea $2,289B 15 Canada $1,832B ... 36 Switzerland $618B 37 Belgium $600B 38 Sweden $580B 39 Singapore $578B 40 Ireland $516B ... 63 Kenya $251B 64 New Zealand $220B 65 Burma $217B 66 Dominican Republic $207B 67 Angola $204B 68 Kuwait $192B 69 Ecuador $190B 70 Belarus $184B ... 150 Namibia $23.1B 151 Kosovo $21.2B 152 South Sudan $20.0B 153 Iceland $20.0B 154 Somalia $19.4B ... 220 Palau $248M 221 Falkland Islands $206M 222 Anguilla $175M 223 Montserrat $167M 224 Nauru $149M 225 Wallis and Futuna $60M 226 Tuvalu $55.2M 227 Saint Helena... $31.1M 228 Niue $18.7M 229 Tokelau $7.7M But I wouldn't stop here. What happens if we compare Apple's COGS with the _technology spend_ of each of the nation-states above? If we estimate that 10% of GDP is technology-related, making it comparable to Apple, then Apple's ranking would be 15th on the list, right in front of Canada.