Texas Instruments

From the day Dell Technologies Chairman and CEO Michael Dell's father brought home an early calculator, he's been fascinated by the possibilities unlocked science and technology. Now, as the leader of the largest privately-held IT firm in the world, he still has his eyes fixed on the future.

In a keynote at the Dell EMC World conference in Las Vegas, Dell laid out the companies broad product portfolio for the more than 13,000 in attendance and gave insights into how that portfolio is positioned for the future of global business. As a boy, Dell saw the calculator as a way to "amplify my own intelligence and my own creativity," and the process is the same for all of humankind. "Fast forward 45 years and hundreds of thousands of moments just like that are driving human progress in profound ways."

Round Rock, Texas-based Dell Technologies is doing by using its private ownership structure to "innovate like a start-up with the scale of a global powerhouse," Dell said, and it's fueled by $4.5 billion in annual R&D spending, a powerful supply chain and "more powerful channel partners than any other technology company anywhere."