ItInsightsWorld | General: AI Returns Remain Mostly in Technology, Apollo Analysis Finds
The clearest financial gains from the AI boom still sit inside technology, while the wider U.S. corporate economy has yet to record a matching payoff. Business Insider reports that Apollo Global Management, one of the world's largest investment firms, reached that conclusion in an economic analysis report published last Saturday. The report said firms including Nvidia and Meta, members of the Magnificent Seven, have secured AI-linked revenue growth, whereas other industries have not shared that growth dividend.
What Apollo's chief economist saw in the data
Torsten Slok, Apollo partner and chief economist, wrote in the report: "U.S. mainstream companies are reducing spending and starting to treat token spending as a cost center that drags on profit margins rather than a source of growth. Outside the technology industry, this technology has not brought any financial return to U.S. companies."
Slok used a series of charts to examine three main indicators: revenue per employee, profit margins and productivity growth. The divergence was sharpest when technology companies were compared with the rest of the U.S. market.
How the indicators split apart
| Indicator | Technology companies | Other companies in the S&P 500 index |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue per employee | Risen from $550,000 in 2022 to nearly $800,000 now | Barely changed; has hovered around $550,000 for the past seven years |
| Profit margins | Climbed substantially since 2022 | Stagnated at around 10% |
Productivity growth, the third measure, has not yet delivered the economy-wide lift that some optimists expected from AI. The broader economic impact therefore remains weaker than the technology sector's own financial results suggest.