Business Owners Will Spend $367 Billion on AI
Wealthy entrepreneurs across 17 markets plan to allocate 21 percent of revenue to AI over the next year.
Updated on Sept. 24, 2026 in Artificial Intelligence
Live Poll
Do you believe artificial intelligence integration will increase job opportunities in your country?
Business owners with at least $2 million in assets intend to invest $367 billion in artificial intelligence technology over the next 12 months. This forecast follows a survey of 3,085 entrepreneurs conducted by Ipsos UK across 17 global markets.
Why it matters
Business leaders are signaling a move toward aggressive AI adoption, citing increased employee productivity as the primary driver for their investment strategy. This trend suggests a broad capital shift toward automation, even as owners remain divided on whether this will result in net job growth or losses.
Entrepreneurs plan to allocate 21 percent of their annual revenue to AI-driven projects. Among those surveyed, 79 percent intend to increase their current investment levels.
The players
Ipsos UK
A global market research firm specializing in large-scale data collection and longitudinal public opinion studies.
The details
The investment strategy centers on leveraging machine learning to automate workflows and enhance output. While 43 percent of respondents prioritize productivity, the study highlights a split in operational impact, with nearly double the number of business owners expecting to grow their headcount compared to those planning layoffs over the next two years.
Timeline
1 April 2026 - 15 May 2026: Ipsos UK conducted the global survey of business owners.
Next 12 months: Entrepreneurs plan to spend $367 billion on artificial intelligence.
The Tech Race
This $367 billion spending forecast tracks alongside broader industrial efforts to integrate LLM and automation suites into mid-market and enterprise workflows. It signals that high-net-worth entrepreneurs are now prioritizing AI as a core capital expense rather than an experimental cost.
The projected capital influx suggests a rapid increase in AI-enabled tools becoming available for business workflows in the coming year. Workers in sectors with high entrepreneur ownership should anticipate significant changes in how daily tasks are managed as productivity-focused software takes priority.
The takeaway
The sheer scale of this $367 billion commitment underscores that AI is shifting from a research interest to a primary budgetary line item for global businesses. Monitor upcoming earnings reports from major AI infrastructure providers to see if this planned capital expenditure begins to materialize in quarterly results.
Further reading
For more on the current state of industrial machine learning adoption, see Artificial Intelligence.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Wealthbriefingasia.
Live Poll
Do you believe artificial intelligence integration will increase job opportunities in your country?
