According to Zhitong Finance APP, since the beginning of this year, the Nasdaq index, dominated by technology stocks, has risen by 33%, and other major indices in the USA have also achieved double-digit gains.

The AI (Artificial Intelligence) boom is the theme of the technology market in 2024 and is also the catalyst behind the significant rise of some stocks. Cryptos are another important driving force, especially after Donald Trump, who supports cryptos, won the presidential election in the USA in November.

The following are the top five US technology stocks with a market cap of $5 billion or more that performed best in 2024:

Applovin (APP.US)

AppLovin is known for investing in a series of Mobile Game studios that produce games like "Wood Block Puzzle", "Clockmaker", and "Bingo Story."

By the end of this year, AppLovin's valuation skyrocketed from about $13 billion at the beginning of the year to over $110 billion, surpassing Starbucks (SBUX.US), Intel (INTC.US), and Airbnb (ABNB.US). As of Wednesday's close, AppLovin's stock price has risen by 758% this year, far exceeding all other technology companies.

AppLovin went public in 2021, coinciding with the surge of Online Games during the COVID-19 pandemic, but currently the company's focus has shifted to online advertising and the development of AI technology.

Last year, AppLovin launched the AXON 2.0 version of its advertising Search Engine, which helps run more targeted ads on the game applications owned by the company; studios that received technology licensing are also using this engine.

AppLovin's software platform revenue grew by 66% in the third quarter, reaching $0.835 billion, driving total revenue growth of 39%; net income soared by 300%, with profit margins increasing from 12.6% the previous year to 36.3%.

AppLovin's CEO Adam Foroughi is optimistic about the prospects. In the company's Earnings Reports conference call in November, Foroughi praised a test E-Commerce project that allows businesses to run targeted ads within games.

He stated, "This is the best product we have released in my years of work, the fastest growing, yet it remains in the experimental phase."

MicroStrategy(MSTR.US)

After climbing 346% in 2023, the "Bitcoin giant" MicroStrategy has risen by 467% this year.

The company announced in mid-2020 that it began purchasing Bitcoin. Before that, MicroStrategy was only a medium-sized business intelligence software provider, but since then, the company has purchased over 0.444 million Bitcoins, using its soaring stock price to sell stocks, raise funds, and buy more Bitcoin.

Currently, MicroStrategy has become the fourth largest holder of Bitcoin globally, with its Bitcoin valued at nearly 44 billion dollars, second only to Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto, Blackrock's iShares Bitcoin Trust, and the cryptocurrency exchange Binance. MicroStrategy's Market Cap has skyrocketed from 1.1 billion dollars during its software company days to now 80 billion dollars.

Trump's victory in the USA election last month added fuel to MicroStrategy's bullish momentum. Since then, the stock has risen by 57%, while Bitcoin has increased by about 44%. Trump had previously called Bitcoin a "scam," but in this election, he received strong support from major cryptocurrency participants like Coinbase (COIN.US).

MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor stated shortly after the election: "With Trump's overwhelming victory, Bitcoin will rise with the wind, and other digital assets will begin to skyrocket as well." He mentioned that Bitcoin remains a "safe Trade" in the cryptocurrency space, but with the implementation of a "digital asset framework" in the broader cryptocurrency market, "the entire digital asset Industry will see a surge."

Palantir (PLTR.US)

Palantir's stock price has risen by 380% this year, experiencing several significant surges during that time. Last month was one of the company's best-performing periods when this software company raised its revenue guidance the day before the USA presidential election.

The company, which sells data analytics tools to defense agencies, raised its targets for 2024, and the fourth quarter guidance exceeded Analyst expectations. Palantir's performance in the third quarter also surpassed market expectations, and CEO Alex Karp stated in the Earnings Reports: "We performed exceptionally well this quarter, thanks to the ongoing demand for AI, and this demand will not slow down."

After the Earnings Reports were released, the company's stock price rose by 23%, and then increased by another 8.6% the day after Trump's victory. Palantir co-founder and Board of Directors member Peter Thiel was a strong supporter during Trump's 2016 campaign.

However, Karp publicly supports the Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, in the 2024 election.

Nevertheless, after the USA election, Wall Street still supports Palantir, as they optimistically believe that more military spending will flow into the company.

Comments made by Karp in the Earnings Reports released before the election indicate that, regardless, the company's performance will be outstanding.

Karp stated, "Our Business growth is accelerating, and financial performance exceeds expectations, as we meet the firm demand from the USA government and commercial clients for cutting-edge AI technology."

Data from LSEG shows that Analysts expect the company's revenue to grow approximately 24% by 2025, reaching 3.5 billion USD.

Robinhood(HOOD.US)

Robinhood's stock price has more than doubled this year, despite falling 17% on October 31 due to disappointing performance.

However, just a few days after the earnings release, investors were no longer focused on these numbers. As Trump won the election, boosting Cryptos, Robinhood's stock price rose by 20%. Cryptos are one of Robinhood's biggest growth engines, allowing retail investors to easily buy Cryptos and Stocks on its app.

Data shows that Robinhood's revenue from crypto trading in the third quarter increased by 165% year-on-year, reaching 61 million USD, accounting for 10% of total revenue.

In addition to Bitcoin, Robinhood users can easily purchase about 20 other Cryptos, ranging from popular digital assets like Ethereum to altcoins such as Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, and Bonk. Robinhood's Chief Financial Officer, Vlad Tenev, stated at the investor day event in November that Cryptos are not just an investment but also a "disruptive technology that will change the underlying infrastructure of payments, loans, and various tradable assets."

According to LSEG data, Analysts expect Robinhood's fourth-quarter revenue to grow by more than 70%, reaching $0.8057 billion, marking the company's fastest quarterly growth since its listing in 2021.

Robinhood's stock price has risen more than Coinbase's this year, which has increased by 61%. However, Coinbase has a Market Cap of $70 billion, still double that of Robinhood.

NVIDIA (NVDA.US)

NVIDIA's astonishing momentum continues.

Driven by the generative AI boom, NVIDIA's stock rose 239% last year and surged another 183% this year, adding $2.2 trillion to its Market Cap.

This year, NVIDIA has twice earned the title of the highest Market Cap public company in the world. Apple (AAPL.US) has regained the top spot with a Market Cap nearing $4 trillion, followed by NVIDIA at $3.4 trillion and Microsoft at $3.3 trillion.

NVIDIA remains the biggest beneficiary of the AI boom, as large cloud providers and Internet companies continue to scramble for graphics processing units. In the past six quarters, NVIDIA's revenue has grown at least 94% year-on-year, with three instances of growth exceeding 200%.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang stated in the latest Earnings Report that the next-generation AI chip Blackwell has been "fully put into production." Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress noted that the company expects to achieve "billions of dollars" in Blackwell revenue in the fourth quarter.

While growth is expected to remain strong for a company of NVIDIA's size, an inevitable slowdown is approaching. Analysts predict that NVIDIA's year-on-year growth rate will slow in the coming quarters, with a growth rate dropping to around 45% by the second half of next year.

NVIDIA's revenue relies on a few major Technology giants, so any economic fluctuations pose significant risks to investors.

This helps explain why NVIDIA told Wall Street that numerous companies are developing new AI services and are "racing to accelerate the development of these applications, potentially deploying billions of agents in the coming years."