US-based research agency, Millward Brown, has deemed Google's worth on the top spot in this year's BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands.

Google's value increased 40 percent from last year and is valued at around $159 billion. Meanwhile, Apple went down to number 2 with a reported decrease of 20 percent, valued at around $148 billion.

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The Telegraph reports that Google's daring ventures into innovative technology - the Google Glass and Self-Driving cars, to name a few - substantially contributed to increasing brand value.

IBM maintains its rank at third place, while Microsoft comes next garnering a 29 percent increase from last year's ranking.

What has most tech geeks mystified is China's Tencent who places 14th on the list with a reported 97% increase.

Meanwhile, social media giant, Facebook reports a 68% increase moving up 10 spots to the 21st rank.

New contenders, Twitter and LinkedIn, ranked 71st and 78th with reported values of $14 billion and $13 billion, respectively.

It was noted by The Telegraph that tech companies had experienced considerable growth in brand value compared to the other categories in the ranking.

Millward Brown's report stated that technological companies accounted for almost 30% of the top 100, with a total value of $827 billion. This category had risen to 16% overall in brand value, it added.

The U.S. based research company attributed this to the companies' abilities to recognize that their market mostly consisted of repeat customers.

Other tech companies who made the list include SAP (19th), Baidu (25th), Samsung (29th), Oracle (45th), HP (49th), Accenture (55th), Siemens (59th), Yahoo (69th), Cisco (72nd) and Intel (86th).

TagsTech News, LinkedIn, Yahoo, SAP, Millward Brown, BrandZ Top 100