The world is driven by technology. As a stocks and shares investor, it therefore makes sense to have exposure to companies that occupy this important and all-encompassing industrial sector.

Technology – ‘tech’ – stocks include any business that provides a technological product or service.

This covers a wide sweep, from computer hardware manufacturers and microchip makers, to social media platforms and companies that provide cloud computing services.

The majority of the world’s leading tech companies are based in the US. In investing terms, they tend to be pigeon-holed as so-called ‘growth’ stocks – companies considered to have the potential to outperform the overall market because of their prospects.

Tech companies thrived during the lock-downs associated with the Covid pandemic, when services underpinned by technology flourished. However, as more of us have returned to work and spent less time at home, the tech sector has experienced a reversal in fortune.

For example, the tech-heavy NASDAQ index in New York has lost around a quarter of its value during 2022 as companies reel from failing to meet earnings expectations.

Investors have queried whether stocks that benefited from a benign economic environment will be able to continue doing so as both interest rates and inflation rise, and recessionary clouds start to gather.

Conversely, investors looking to buy the dip after stock market falls may believe enough negative news is already embedded in the sector and the only way is up.

Either way, to give you a flavour of the tech sector, we’ve profiled a dozen of the largest companies by stock market capitalisation (based on Morningstar figures dated 27 May 2022).