Big Tech could emerge from coronavirus crisis stronger than ever

While the rest of the economy is tanking from the crippling effects of the coronavirus, business at the biggest technology companies is holding steady — even thriving.

Amazon is hiring 100,000 warehouse workers to meet growing demand. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said traffic for video calling and messaging has exploded. Microsoft said the number of people using its software for online collaboration climbed nearly 40% in a week.

With people told to work from home and stay away from others, the pandemic has deepened reliance on services from the technology industry’s biggest companies, and accelerating trends that were already benefiting them.

Amazon has muscled in on brick-and-mortar retailers for years, but shoppers reluctant to go to the store are turning to the e-commerce giant for a wider variety of goods, including groceries and over-the-counter drugs.

Streaming services have dampened ticket sales for movies in recent years, but as movie theaters close under government orders, Netflix of Los Gatos and YouTube of San Bruno are gaining audiences.

Companies were already dumping their own data centers to rent computing from Amazon, Microsoft and Google. That shift is expected to speed up as millions work from home, putting a strain on corporate technology infrastructures.

Even Apple, which once appeared to be among the American companies most at risk from the coronavirus because of its dependence on Chinese factories and customers, appears to be on good footing. Many of the Cupertino company’s factories are nearly back to normal, people are spending more time and money on its digital services, and it even released new gadgets last week.

“The largest tech companies could emerge on the other side of this much stronger,” said Daniel Ives, managing director of...