Chinese Companies Are Changing the “State of the Internet”
The Internet evolves quickly and its “state” changes a lot in a year. One big shift highlighted in Kleiner Perkins venture capitalist Mary Meeker’s annual report on online trends: four of the top 10 most popular Internet properties are now held by Chinese companies—up from just one a year ago.
Only a year ago, Tencent, a leader in China’s social networking and gaming scene and maker of the wildly popular chat app WeChat, was the the 10th most popular Internet property, by a count of global monthly unique visitors. It was also China’s lone representative in the top 10, with the other nine slots held by U.S. companies.

Data from this year is shown on the chart below. Not only has Tencent risen two spots, it is also now accompanied in the top 10 by three Chinese peers. Sohu and Baidu are search engines that offer a variety of other services. Alibaba, the e-commerce giant planning an enormous U.S. IPO, is now the most popular Chinese-owned Internet property in the world. At the rate the Internet’s popularity is growing in China, especially in the mobile arena, it would not be a surprise if next year’s list featured even more Chinese companies (see “Alibaba’s Big Rivals May Have a Mobile Edge”).

Keep Reading
Most Popular
Geoffrey Hinton tells us why he’s now scared of the tech he helped build
“I have suddenly switched my views on whether these things are going to be more intelligent than us.”
ChatGPT is going to change education, not destroy it
The narrative around cheating students doesn’t tell the whole story. Meet the teachers who think generative AI could actually make learning better.
Meet the people who use Notion to plan their whole lives
The workplace tool’s appeal extends far beyond organizing work projects. Many users find it’s just as useful for managing their free time.
Learning to code isn’t enough
Historically, learn-to-code efforts have provided opportunities for the few, but new efforts are aiming to be inclusive.
Stay connected
Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.