AI boom drives stock surge and massive spending, charts show
13 reported3 unconfirmed
A new analysis using six charts examines the state of the artificial intelligence boom, highlighting soaring stock valuations, massive corporate spending, and rapid adoption by businesses and consumers. The S&P 500 has risen nearly 80% over the past five years, driven largely by big tech stocks with AI stakes, with 41 AI-related stocks now accounting for nearly half the index’s market value, according to Bianco Research. Spending on AI infrastructure is projected to grow from $765bn this year to $1.6tn by 2031, according to Goldman Sachs, which notes potential risks from delays. Business adoption of AI has jumped from 33% in 2023 to nearly 80% now, per McKinsey, while OpenAI’s ChatGPT has reached 1bn monthly active users. However, analysts warn of dangers including a potential dotcom-style crash, rising token costs for users, and questions about whether datacentre construction can keep pace with demand. The article notes that AI models are doubling in capability every four months, but there has been no commensurate impact on jobs so far.
What’s reported
The S&P 500 has risen nearly 80% over the past five years, driven by big tech stocks with AI stakes.
41 AI-related stocks now account for nearly half the S&P 500’s market value, according to Bianco Research.
Spending on AI is projected to grow from $765bn this year to $1.6tn by 2031, per Goldman Sachs.
Business adoption of AI rose from 33% in 2023 to nearly 80% now, according to McKinsey.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT has reached 1bn monthly active users, a record for any app, per Sensor Tower.
Anthropic’s Claude user traffic grew significantly faster than ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini between January and April, spiking after the Pentagon declared it a supply chain risk in March.
Token costs for AI use are rising; OpenAI prices GPT-5.5 at $5 per million input tokens and $30 per million output tokens.
An unnamed company spent $500m in a month on licences for Claude Code, per Axios.
23GW of datacentre capacity was under construction globally in 2025, per Bloomberg.
JLL predicts 100GW of datacentre capacity will be added between 2026 and 2030, equivalent to 1,200 datacentres.
AI models are doubling in capability every four months, according to METR.
US GDP grew 2.1% in 2025 and 1.6% in Q1 2026, per the US Bureau of Economic Analysis.
A Harvard economist calculates that “investment in information processing equipment & software” accounted for 92% of US GDP growth in the first half of 2025.
Open questions
Whether AI companies can make money from their vast user base.
Whether datacentre construction will keep pace with demand, given questions about funding and energy supply.
Whether AI will have a significant impact on jobs in the near future.
Key figures
Jim Bianco, founder of Bianco Research
Neil Wilson, analyst at Saxo UK
Liam Betsworth, founder of British AI startup Pendra
Cecilia Rikap, associate professor at University College London
Bouke Klein Teeselink, academic at King’s College London
Sources: The Guardian
