[mulmen]

I wonder what the equivalent is for tech people. What is an enormous industry-specific business we have never heard of?

[kamyarg]

The steel production and raw materials industry is a whole different world. I am not knowledgable in the area at all but a recent linkedin post by a friend was listing the biggest steel producers by country, I did not recognise any names except Tata from India and Thyssenkrupp from Germany.

Here is a list I found from a quick search, try to guess which country the biggest producers is based in or how many of top 5 you expect to have heard of before opening the link.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_steel_producers

[kbenson]

That is a lot of Chinese steel, at what looks to be about 25% of the total worldwide production, just by the companies listed in the top 41. It looks like possibly a majority of worldwide production isn't in this list (which seems to gut off at less than 10 million tonnes), so it's possible it's even higher, if there's a lot of small steel companies based in China as well.

[mulmen]

This is actually pretty amazing. I predicted that the top few would be US based companies but I hadn't heard of them because they are rounding errors. I was wrong about that but the first US based steel company on the list is in my neighborhood. I ride up to their plant on my daily bike ride.

[jfim]

I didn't even know Thyssenkrupp did things other than elevators.

[kamyarg]

"In February 2020, Thyssenkrup AG's board announced that it would sell its elevator segment to Advent International ... "

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThyssenKrupp

This just keeps getting more interesting.

[scylla]

Pharmaceutical Distribution - How many people have heard of McKesson?

[ByteJockey]

Oh god. I've worked at a place that uses their apis.

[jfim]

Since this is such a great question, I've posted an "Ask HN" about it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23534529

[djohnston]

I am always amazed when I listen to my rancher buddy talk about cattle prices on weekly calls. There are so many industries I'm completely oblivious to.

[teruakohatu]

Agriculture, including farming (mid sized or larger), fertilizer distribution and manufacturing and seeds.

[mulmen]

I actually have agriculture experience. That's how I paid for college. You're absolutely right but I bet there's more than one AWS.

I think many people have heard of John Deere and Monsanto but what about McGregor? They may not be as big as AWS but even with Ag experience I bet there are bigger similar organizations.

I bet there are big custom harvest operations too. We had a two man operation on the Palouse but I heard stories about huge operations out of Texas that migrated through the midwest following harvest cycles.