AI Investment Is Helping Create More Billionaires, Adding Wealth Among Ultra Rich

The billionaire class saw its population grow by 8.2 percent in 2025, fueled in part by the AI investment boom, a new report found.

The world's billionaire class grew by 287 individuals, bringing the total to 3,795, according to a data analysis company Altrata.

"Growth of 8.2% was the strongest in five years, as rising equity markets, monetary stimulus, and AI investment mania propelled dynamic wealth gains among the ultra rich," reads a passage of the report.

Not only were more billionaires created, but existing billionaires saw their vast wealth grow as well. The total wealth of billionaires rose by 12.8 percent to a record $15.1 trillion. The report noted that billionaire wealth was now almost the equivalent to a quarter of the total market capitalization of the S&P 500.

AI investment was as a significant driver in billionaire population and wealth creation.

"Of the 150 listed companies globally that contribute the most to billionaire wealth, those that made a meaningful investment in AI outperformed those that did not by 23% in market capitalization growth over the combined 2024-25 period," the report added.

Other factors contributing to the soaring wealth was double-digit growth in equities. The report noted that rate cuts among the world's major central banks also lent support to fixed-income markets.

"There was considerable turbulence throughout the year, however, stoked by fractious geopolitics and an erratic realignment in the US of long-established trade relations and policy norms. This contributed to a partial rotation of globally mobile capital away from US assets and to more diverse wealth gains across a range of sectors and regional asset markets," the report noted.

The document also found that even among the rich there are significant tiers and wealth concentration. For example, although there are 3,795 billionaires in the world, the 29 richest people have a net worth of $4.1 trillion. In other words, those 29 individuals account for 27 percent of all of the net worth of billionaires. All 29 have a net worth of at least $50 billion.

"Sharp fluctuations in AI-exposed tech stocks – and, by extension, in individual billionaire wealth – will remain a feature of global markets in the coming years," the report states.

As a region, North America is number one in terms of billionaires and that position was strengthened in 2025. North America added 11.6 percent more billionaires, increasing its number to 1,337 individuals.

Europe was second in billionaires with 1,081 individuals. Europe saw its number of billionaires rise by 8 percent. Asia ranked third, with a 6.5 percent rise in its billionaire population, bringing its total to about 881 individuals.

"The distribution of wealth is highly imbalanced across the world economy at all levels of society and wealth tiers. The billionaire class accounts for only a tiny fraction of the 'global wealthy' population but commands an extravagantly outsized proportion of total net worth," the report concluded.