AI boom could add more than half a trillion dollars to the wealth of US tech giants by 2025 rich lists

The stock market boom of artificial intelligence companies added more than half a trillion dollars to the wealth of US tech giants last year, data shows.

The wealth of the top 10 US founders and owners of some of the world’s biggest technology companies grew from $1.9tn to nearly $2.5tn in the financial year to Christmas Eve, according to Bloomberg data.

Elon Musk, already the richest man in the world, has again proven to be one of the biggest winners as the AI ​​gold-rush has driven US stock markets to record highs.

Musk’s net worth increased by nearly 50% year-on-year to $645bn. The tycoon, whose business interests include xAI, an artificial intelligence company, became the first person with a net worth of more than $500bn in October this year. If he achieves the goals set by his electric car company Tesla, he could become the world’s first trillionaire.

Musk is ahead of Google co-founder Larry Page and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in the overall ranking of the world’s richest billionaires. page is estimated Whose price will be 270 billion dollars and Bezos’s price will be 255 billion dollars.

The increasing concentration of wealth among the ultra elite has fueled debate about how to balance economies, with some calling for more effective wealth taxes.

Jensen Huang, chief executive of chip maker Nvidia, was also one of the biggest gainers. The value of his investments, equities and other assets increased by $41.8 billion, bringing his personal wealth to $159 billion. This puts them in ninth place overall Bloomberg Billionaires IndexAnd is ranked eighth among the top 10 American tech billionaires, according to a separate report by the Financial Times.

Huang took advantage of Nvidia’s rising stock price, selling about $1 billion worth of shares this year. Its relatively advanced computer chips are a key component in building the more powerful processing capacity needed for AI. In October it became the world’s first $5 trillion company, exceeding the economic output of some of the world’s largest economies like Japan or India.

The wealth of Google co-founders, Page and Sergey Brin, surged to $102 billion and $92 billion, respectively, as investors bet on the company’s AI progress, including its own in-house efforts to create new chips, known as tensor processing units.

AI investment has grown so much in recent years that the Bank of England has warned of a “sudden correction” in global markets if investor confidence is misplaced.

“On many measures, equity market valuations appear inflated, particularly for technology companies focused on artificial intelligence,” the central bank’s top policymakers said in October.

This means that stock markets “become particularly exposed if expectations about the impact of AI become less optimistic”, he said.

While technology is the leading industry among the gainers in the billionaire rankings, there are other familiar names as well. Bernard Arnault, the French chairman of LVMH luxury goods company, which makes Louis Vuitton bags and Dom Pérignon champagne, saw his wealth increase by $28.5 billion in the past year. The 76-year-old controls nearly half of LVMH and analysts have turned more positive on the stock in recent months, with strong spending by wealthy North American consumers.

Spaniard Amancio Ortega, who owns a 59% stake in Inditex, the parent company of high street clothing retailer Zara, and seven other brands, was among the biggest gainers, adding $34.3 billion to his fortune, which comes to $136 billion. It was boosted by a record dividend of €3.1 billion from the retail group.