The AI Build-Out
Billions of dollars are being poured into AI infrastructure every year. Without it, the US economy is barely moving.
Spent on AI infrastructure in 2026
$334,304,175,518
Stock Market
The biggest AI stocks (Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Tesla, AMD, Broadcom, Oracle) are over 40% of the entire US stock market. Index rebased to 100 at Jan 2025.
| Month | Including AI stocks (rebased) | Excluding AI stocks (rebased) |
|---|---|---|
| Jan '25 | 100 | 100 |
| Feb '25 | 101 | 100.5 |
| Mar '25 | 95.1 | 97.8 |
| Apr '25 | 89.8 | 95.4 |
| May '25 | 97.2 | 98.7 |
| Jun '25 | 100.8 | 100.4 |
| Jul '25 | 105.3 | 102.4 |
| Aug '25 | 107.2 | 103.2 |
| Sep '25 | 110.1 | 104.5 |
| Oct '25 | 112.6 | 105.7 |
| Nov '25 | 112.7 | 105.7 |
| Dec '25 | 114.6 | 106.6 |
| Jan '26 | 115.9 | 107.2 |
| Feb '26 | 115.3 | 106.9 |
| Mar '26 | 111.3 | 105.1 |
| Apr '26 | 116.3 | 107.4 |
| May '26 | 124 | 110.8 |
| Jun '26 | 125 | 111.3 |
The “including AI stocks” line is the real S&P 500 (month-end values, rebased to 100). The “excluding AI stocks” line is a weighted approximation, since no published index excludes this exact basket.
Source: S&P Dow Jones (via FRED); Apollo Academyof every $1 of US economic growth came from AI spending
Tap to learn moreLast quarter, the US economy grew by 1.6% (Bureau of Economic Analysis). Analysts at Pantheon Macroeconomics estimate that about 75% of that growth, roughly 75 cents of every dollar, came from companies spending money building AI infrastructure. Strip that out, and growth was close to flat.
Source: Pantheon Macroeconomics, via Fortuneof the entire US stock market is just 7 companies
Tap to learn moreApple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Tesla make up 34% of the entire US stock market. Nvidia alone accounts for 8%. When these companies go up or down, the whole market moves with them.
Source: The Motley FoolGDP Breakdown
Hover or tap a segment for detail
Of all US economic growth last quarter, the blue portion came from building AI. The gray is everything else.
Source: Pantheon Macroeconomics, via FortuneEconomic Growth
US real GDP growth, annualized
| Quarter | Growth |
|---|---|
| Q1 2025 | -0.5% |
| Q2 2025 | 3.8% |
| Q3 2025 | 4.4% |
| Q4 2025 | 0.7% |
| Q1 2026 | 1.6% |
Q4 2025 and Q1 2026 are BEA estimates subject to revision.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic AnalysisSpent building AI in 2026
Tap to learn moreThe biggest tech companies, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta, Apple, are collectively spending around $690 billion building AI data centers, buying chips, and expanding power capacity in 2026. That is roughly $21,878 every second.
Source: Goldman Sachs Global InstituteEarned back by AI products in 2026
Tap to learn moreAI products, ChatGPT subscriptions, API access, enterprise AI tools, are projected to generate around $132 billion in revenue in 2026. Companies are spending about 5x more building AI than AI products are earning back.
Source: Gartner, Worldwide AI Spending Forecast