PetroChina is now the world’s largest company by market capitalization, valued at approximately $1 trillion. The Chinese behemoth easily eclipses its nearest rival, U.S.-based ExxonMobil, which is valued at around $488 billion.

One trillion can be hard to wrap your mind around. It means that as of November 5, Chinese stock market investors were putting a higher valuation on PetroChina than on ExxonMobil, Chevron Texaco, British Petroleum and Total S.A. combined.

What makes PetroChina’s valuation even more incredible is that its revenue for the first half of this year was less than a third of Exxon’s and its net profit was only $12 billion compared to Exxon’s $20 billion.

Energy companies are not the only Chinese companies to be prospering. According to Bloomberg, while American banks are getting punished by investors, China has become home to the world’s three largest banks by market valuation.

As of the end of October, five of the top 10 and eight of the top 20 companies in the world by market cap were Chinese, while only three of the top 10 and seven of the top 20 were American.

Although market values placed on Chinese companies are in large part a product of a euphoric stock market that is booming, the high valuations compared to U.S. corporations are also symbolic of a broader trend taking place.

America is no longer the world’s sole unchallenged economic superpower. American companies are facing increased competition from many increasingly powerful and richly cashed foreign companies.