US Corporate AI Spending Surges, but Earnings Impact Remains Elusive
The adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in US corporations is accelerating, but its impact on earnings remains limited. According to Goldman Sachs, enterprise AI spending is rising sharply, with monthly AI spending per employee increasing to $12 in July from $5 at the start of the year. The top 10% of companies by AI spending saw their expenditure rise to $650 per employee from $240.
Goldman Sachs analyzed S&P 500 companies' Q2 earnings and found that AI infrastructure firms are benefiting significantly, with a 54% year-over-year increase in earnings. However, the direct earnings impact of AI adoption among US companies remains narrow, with only 11% of S&P 500 companies quantifying AI productivity gains for a specific use case.
The brokerage expects the productivity benefits of AI to become clearer in earnings as companies move from experimentation to wider deployment. For now, investors continue to favor AI infrastructure companies, where the earnings impact of AI spending is more immediate and visible.