The youngest SMI company is 29 years old. Five of the 20 most valuable US companies are younger.

SMI: An index of traditional companies 14 of the 20 SMI companies were founded before 1914: Nestlé (1866), Swiss Re (1863), UBS (1862), Zurich Insurance (1872), Roche (1896), Kühne+Nagel (1890), ABB (1883), Lindt & Sprüngli (1845), and others. The four younger companies — Novartis (1996, merger of two companies from the 19th century), Richemont (1988), Alcon (1945), and Partners Group (1996) — originated as mergers, spin-offs, or holding companies of existing structures. S&P 500 Top 20: Age meets disruption The average age of the 20 largest US companies is about 66 years — over 40 years less than in the SMI. Nvidia (1993), today the most valuable company on the list with 4.5 trillion USD, exemplifies the rise of young technology companies. What explains the difference? Fast-growing Swiss startups are often acquired early by foreign corporations or go public on Nasdaq rather than on SIX. The SPI does include younger companies — for example in the biotech sector — but none have yet reached the market capitalization required for SMI promotion. In the US, a large venture capital ecosystem and a large domestic market favored the rapid growth of new companies.