Global AI Investment Trends & Spending Outlook

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Executive Summary

• Market Scope
• Market Summary
• AI Corporate Investment Trends
• Themes and Focus Areas
• Public Funding and Initiatives
• Enterprise Adoption: A More Sobering Reality
• Rising Concerns Over an Emerging AI Investment Bubble
• Conclusion

Chapter 2 AI Corporate Investment Trends

• Overview
• Key Enablers of AI Investment
• AI Infrastructure
• Talent and Ecosystem Development
• Policy, Regulation, and Government Support
• Corporate Investment Trends
• Private AI Investments
• Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A)

Chapter 3 AI Venture Capital and Startups

• Global AI Venture Capital (VC)
• Startup Activity
• The U.S.
• China
• Europe
• Key Takeaways

Chapter 4 Investment Themes and Focus Areas

• Overview
• GenAI
• AI Infrastructure
• Energy Infrastructure
• Data Management and Processing
• Vertical AI Applications
• Medical and Healthcare
• Autonomous Vehicles
• Defense
• Financial Services / Fintech
• Agentic AI
• Physical AI
• Mega-Deal Analysis
• Mounting Anxiety Over Circular AI Economy
• Future Investment Outlook

Chapter 5 Public Funding and Initiatives

• Public Investment Strategies and Trends in AI by Region/Country
• North America
• Europe
• Asia-Pacific
• The Middle East
• Public-Private Partnership Model
• Sovereign AI

Chapter 6 AI Investment Patterns Across Industries

• Overview
• Healthcare
• Pharmaceuticals
• Clinical and Molecular Diagnostics
• Banking and Financial Services
• Logistics and Supply Chain
• Automotive
• Telecom
• Retail
• Food and Beverages
• Media and Entertainment
• Education and EdTech
• Others
• A Pause in the Hype: Investment Soars, Adoption Momentum Slows

Chapter 7 Investors' Insights and Strategic Recommendations

• Key Takeaways
• Strategic Recommendations for Investors

Chapter 8 Appendix

• Information Sources
• Abbreviations

List of Tables

• Table 1 : ChatGPT Valuation Over the Years, 2019 - 2025
• Table 2 : AI Valuation Over the Years, 2024 - 2025
• Table 3 : Anthropic Valuation Over the Years, 2023 - 2025
• Table 4 : Trends in Annual Global Corporate AI Investment Activities
• Table 5 : Global Shares of Annual Private Investments in AI, by Country/Region, 2020 - 2024
• Table 6 : Selected Recent M&A Activities in the AI Industry, 2024 - 2025
• Table 7 : Real-World Examples of Reverse Acquihire in the AI Industry, 2024 - 2025
• Table 8 : Key Highly Valued Pure-Play AI Startups, December 2025
• Table 9 : Top Ten Cities for AI Startups, 2024
• Table 10 : Selected High-Valued AI Startups in China
• Table 11 : Selected High-Valued AI Startups in Europe
• Table 12 : Recent AI Infrastructure Deals, 2025
• Table 13 : Key Energy Infrastructure Projects and Partnerships to Support AI Infrastructure, 2024 - 2025
• Table 14 : Key Investment in Healthcare AI Companies, 2025
• Table 15 : Key Investment in Autonomous Vehicle Companies, 2024 and 2025
• Table 16 : Global VC Investment in Artificial Intelligence Across Robots, Sensors and IT Hardware, 2022 - 2024
• Table 17 : Selected High-Valued Defense AI Startups, 2025
• Table 18 : Selected Fintech AI Companies
• Table 19 : Recent Major Physical AI Investments
• Table 20 : Key AI Start-Up Funding Deals/Rounds, 2025
• Table 21 : Notable AI Start-up Funding Deals/Rounds, 2024
• Table 22 : Total R&D and AI Funding by Functional (PCA) Category in the U.S. Federal Budget, FY 2023 - FY 2025
• Table 23 : Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Companies' Collaborations with NVIDIA Corp., 2025 - 2026
• Table 24 : Information Sources in this Report
• Table 25 : Abbreviations

List of Figures

• Figure 1 : Annual Global Corporate Investment in AI, by Investment Activity, 2018 - 2024
• Figure 2 : Global Shares of Corporate Investment in AI, by Investment Activity, 2025
• Figure 3 : Global Private Investments in AI, 2015 - 2024
• Figure 4 : Global Private Investments in AI, by Country/Region, 2015 - 2024
• Figure 5 : Global Shares of Annual Private Investments in AI, by Country/Region, 2025
• Figure 6 : Global Cumulative Private Investments in AI, by Country, 2013 - 2024
• Figure 7 : Global Private Investment in AI, by Country, 2024
• Figure 8 : M&A Strategic Goals in the AI Industry
• Figure 9 : Global AI VC Investment Trends, 2017 - 2024
• Figure 10 : Global Shares of AI VC Investment, by Country, 2024
• Figure 11 : Top 10 Countries in Europe, by AI VC Funding, 2024
• Figure 12 : Most Active Global Investors in AI, 2024
• Figure 13 : Newly Funded AI Companies, by Select Country/Region, 2019 - 2024
• Figure 14 : Newly Funded AI Companies, by Country, 2013 - 2024
• Figure 15 : Global Annual Private Investment in AI, by Focus Area, 2023 and 2024
• Figure 16 : Trends in AI Investment, by Industry, 2012 - 2024
• Figure 17 : Global Private Investment in GenAI, 2019 - 2024
• Figure 18 : Top 10 Global Countries, by GenAI VC Funding, Since 2019
• Figure 19 : Public Spending on AI-Related Contracts in Select Countries, 2013 - 2023
• Figure 20 : Total U.S. Federal IT R&D and AI Funding (Unclassified), FY 2021 - FY 2025
• Figure 21 : U.S. Market Shares of Public Spending on AI-Related Contracts, by Funding Agency, 2013 - 2023
• Figure 22 : European Shares of Public Spending on AI-Related Contracts, by Funding Agency, 2013 - 2023
• Figure 23 : The Use of AI in Finance, 2024
• Figure 24 : Drop from Pilots to Production: General-Purpose LLM Versus Task-Specific GenAI, 2025