State Grid Photo: CFP

For the first time, Chinese companies on the 2022 Fortune Global 500 list have made more money than their US counterparts.

Chinese companies accounted for 31 percent of the total revenues of 2022 Fortune Global 500 giants, surpassing US firms' 30 percent for the first time. Three of the top five companies on the list are from China, statistics showed on Wednesday.

In 2021, with COVID-19 still running wild in the world, the global economy struggled to restart, and the top 500 companies saw their revenues and profits rise significantly on a yearly basis.

The revenue of the top 500 giants rose 19.2 percent year-on-year in 2021, the biggest gain in the history of the list, reaching $37.8 trillion, which was about two-fifths of global GDP in 2021 and close to the economies of China and the US combined.

The threshold for entering the list - the minimum sales revenue - jumped from $24 billion to $28.6 billion.

The combined net income of all companies on the list was about $3.1 trillion, up 88 percent from a year earlier and the biggest increase since 2004.

Walmart, Amazon and State Grid Corp of China were the top three on the 2022 Fortune Global 500 list, while Chinese energy giants China National Petroleum Corp and Sinopec Group ranked fourth and fifth.

A total of 145 companies from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and the island of Taiwan were on the list, compared with 124 US companies.

Three Chinese commercial banks - Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China - remained in the top 10 by profits. The profits of ICBC reached $54 billion.

Although the real estate sector faced pressure in China starting in the fourth quarter of 2021, five property developers still made it onto the list. Among them, Country Garden rose to 138th place with operating revenue of $81.09 billion and profits of $4.154 billion.

Other Chinese companies on the list included firms in manufacturing, e-commerce, auto and tech firms. 

Electric appliance maker Midea Group saw its ranking move up to No.245, and it has been on the Fortune Global 500 list for seven consecutive years, according to a statement the company sent to the Global Times on Wednesday.

Midea attributed its ranking to its tech-driven transformation and overseas market breakthroughs. Its 2021 revenue hit $53.231 billion, with $4.43 billion of profits, according to Fortune.