A forecast says U.S. companies' expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) investment will further widen the gap with Europe.

Blockchain outlet Cryptopolitan reported on Aug. 24 that Oxford Economics expects U.S. corporate spending on new AI hardware and infrastructure to rise 40% in real terms by the end of 2027 from 2021.

Over the same period, the euro zone's growth in corporate spending related to AI is expected to be limited to 12%. The trend since the COVID-19 pandemic of U.S. companies putting money into AI at about three times the pace of European companies is expected to continue. In investment in generative AI, the United States is also far ahead of China and Europe. The Stanford AI Index report put current U.S. private AI investment at 23 times that of China.

Even so, the actual gap between the United States and China may not be as large as private investment figures suggest. The Chinese government is estimated to have provided about $184 billion in support for its domestic AI industry over the past 23 years. The United States dominates in private funding, but the competitive landscape becomes more complex when government support is included.

Global AI investment is also growing rapidly. Total AI funding, including corporate mergers and acquisitions, listings, minority-stake investments and private investment, has expanded about 40-fold since 2013. In 2025, global AI investment rose 129.9% in a year to $581.69 billion. Of that, private investment accounted for the largest share at $344.66 billion, up 127.5% from 2024.

The increase in U.S. investment also aligns with big tech companies' plans for large outlays. Google, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon are poised to invest more than $725 billion in AI infrastructure in 2026 alone. Major watchdogs, including the Bank for International Settlements, are warning that a painful "investment bust" could occur if AI profitability falls short of expectations. With the U.S. investment boom strongly tied to rising AI spending, vulnerabilities could surface if returns are not realised.

Within Europe, some argue the current gap will not become entrenched. Carsten Junius (카르스텐 유니우스), chief economist at Bank J Safra Sarasin, said U.S. AI investment will not continue permanently at its current scale. Even so, he said that if Europe fails to narrow the gap in advanced technology, Europeans' standard of living could remain lower than that of the United States.

Structural differences beyond financial capacity also sit behind the investment gap. The United States has a thick layer of large technology companies, and its venture capital and private investor base is broad. Large technology companies also have massive cash flows that allow them to reinvest in data centres, advanced chips and AI infrastructure. Europe, by contrast, has a fragmented technology market and relatively fewer companies on the scale of major U.S. AI companies. As the cost of building and deploying AI systems rises, these differences could have a bigger impact.

The regulatory environment is also a variable. The European Union introduced the AI Act in 2024 to respond to risks such as the spread of misinformation produced by AI. But criticism and backlash have continued that strict regulation could hinder innovation. Some have raised concerns that if regulatory burdens grow while Europe lags in the scale of investment, European companies could respond even more slowly.

AI use is also already spreading across corporate operations. A 2025 survey found 88% of surveyed companies had adopted AI, and 70% of organisations were using generative AI in at least one business area. AI agents are still at an early stage, but it is clear that generative AI is rapidly permeating everyday services and workplaces.

Perceived consumer value has also increased. The real value that generative AI provides to ordinary users rose 54% on an annual basis. Annual benefits accruing to U.S. consumers in early 2026 increased to $172 billion from $112 billion a year earlier. Even when software is free or nearly free, utility on a median-user basis tripled. Against this backdrop, AI investment is moving beyond the experimental stage to become a core competitive factor in corporate operations. As early investors are increasingly likely to secure an edge in productivity, automation and access to advanced AI tools, the economic gap between the United States and Europe may widen further.