Covid-19 Supercharged 2020's Tech Winners. What About 2021?
The shift to cloud computing, the rise of video-gaming and the surge in e-commerce were all boosted by the pandemic’s effects. When the virus recedes, some of these trends may too.
This shopper was one of the lucky ones. He got his PlayStation 5.
Photographer: Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images
Some of 2020’s biggest technology winners — including Zoom Video Communications Inc., Shopify Inc. and Nvidia Corp. — have delighted shareholders with gains ranging from 100% to 400%. And they have a common thread: Besides being top performers, these companies are all market leaders that benefited from trends that were supercharged by the pandemic. Whether it was the shift to remote work, the move to cloud-computing software, the rise of video-gaming or the surge in e-commerce sales, these companies were there at the right place at the right time to profit.
Cloud-Computing Software
The pandemic had a big impact on enterprise technology budgets. In recent years, companies have steadily shifted their information technology spending away from in-house equipment to the more flexible cloud-computing model, using external vendors such as Amazon.com Inc.’s Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Corp.’s Azure. This year’s shelter-in-place orders hastened the trend as companies raced to enable virtualized offices and remote-working environments for their employees. Zoom, too, was a big beneficiary as the company’s video-conferencing tool became the industry standard, because of its ease of use and quality of service.