PetroChina was the first publicly traded company valued at approximately $1 trillion during its 2007 Shanghai listing.
PetroChina shares began trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in November 2007, and the company’s market capitalization briefly reached roughly $1 trillion. The valuation made it the world’s largest company by market value at that moment, although the share price later fell substantially.
PetroChina is the publicly traded arm of China National Petroleum Corporation, or CNPC. Its activities include oil and gas exploration, production, refining, chemicals, pipelines, and fuel sales.
The milestone is often omitted from modern lists because it was brief and occurred during an unusually strong period in Chinese equities. It is also distinct from Apple’s 2018 milestone, which is generally cited as the first sustained $1 trillion valuation for a major U.S. public company.