Key Takeaways
- From 2013 to 2024, the U.S. has raised nearly half a trillion dollars in private investment for AI
- The next three countries are China ($119B), the UK ($28B), and Canada & Israel ($15B each)
Countries are investing heavily in artificial intelligence to position themselves for a future that could look significantly different from today.
Greater investment in AI typically translates into stronger innovation ecosystems, which can attract top talent and fuel groundbreaking research that drives long-term economic growth.
This visualization is part of Visual Capitalist’s AI Week, sponsored by Terzo, and uses data from the 2025 AI Index Report to reveal which countries are placing the biggest bets on AI.
Data & Discussion
The figures in this graphic represent total private AI investment by country, between 2013 to 2024 in billions of U.S. dollars. Countries that raised less than $1 billion were grouped into the “Rest of World” category.
From this data we can see that nearly half a trillion dollars has been raised for AI in the U.S. This amount is greater than the rest of the world combined ($471 billion vs. $289 billion).
AI Startup Activity
The 2025 AI Index Report also features data on the number of newly funded AI companies by country. Generally speaking, more capital raised results in more companies starting up.
| Geographic Area | Number of Newly Funded AI Companies (2013–2024) |
|---|---|
| 🇺🇸 United States | 6,956 |
| 🇨🇳 China | 1,605 |
| 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | 885 |
| 🇮🇱 Israel | 492 |
| 🇨🇦 Canada | 481 |
| 🇫🇷 France | 468 |
| 🇮🇳 India | 434 |
| 🇩🇪 Germany | 394 |
| 🇯🇵 Japan | 388 |
| 🇰🇷 South Korea | 270 |
| 🇸🇬 Singapore | 239 |
| 🇦🇺 Australia | 178 |
| 🇨🇭 Switzerland | 154 |
| 🇪🇸 Spain | 117 |
| 🇳🇱 Netherlands | 116 |
Based on these numbers, the U.S. is the clear leader in terms of creating new AI companies. In 2024 alone, 1,073 AI companies in the country were funded.
AI Focus Areas
Since 2013, the world has raised over $750 billion for AI ventures, but what is all of this money going towards?
Breaking down private AI investment by focus area reveals the top sectors that attracted the most capital in 2024.
| Focus Area | Total Investment ($B, 2024) |
|---|---|
| 🧠 AI infrastructure/research/governance | $37.3 |
| 🗃️ Data management, processing | $16.6 |
| 🏥 Medical and health care | $10.8 |
| 🚗 AV (autonomous vehicles) | $9.4 |
| 💰 Fintech | $6.9 |
| 🏭 Manufacturing | $6.6 |
| 💾 Semiconductors | $5.5 |
| 💬 NLP, customer support | $4.2 |
| 🔐 Cybersecurity, data protection | $3.7 |
| 🤖 Robotics | $3.3 |
| 🛩️ Drones | $2.6 |
| ⚡ Energy, oil, and gas | $2.0 |
| 📢 Marketing, digital ads | $1.6 |
| 🧾 Business operations | $1.5 |
| 🔎 Semantic search | $1.4 |
| 🚚 Supply chain | $1.4 |
| 🛡️ Insurtech | $1.4 |
| 🕶️ AR/VR | $1.3 |
| 🛍️ Retail | $1.2 |
| 🎓 Ed tech | $1.0 |
| ⚛️ Quantum computing | $1.0 |
| 🌐 IoT | $0.8 |
| 🌱 Agritech | $0.8 |
| 🌍 Content creation/translation | $0.8 |
| 🎵 Creative, music, video content | $0.7 |
“AI infrastructure, research, and governance” attracted the most capital due to large investments by companies building AI applications, such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI.
To get into all the AI Week content, visit our AI content hub, brought to you by Terzo.
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/visualizing-global-ai-investment-by-country/
