{"slug": "us-businesses-ai-spending-surges-to-7400-per-employee-monthly-as-corporate", "title": "US businesses’ AI spending surges to $7,400 per employee monthly as corporate divide widens", "summary": "The top 1% of US businesses spent a median of $7,400 per employee per month on AI tools in July 2026, more than triple the under $1,000 per employee they spent in early 2024, according to Ramp's August 2026 AI Index. The top 10% spent $650 per employee, while the median firm spent just $11.95, and Anthropic now holds a 43.5% share of businesses on Ramp's platform.", "body_md": "Via hushoffice.com\n\n# US businesses’ AI spending surges to $7,400 per employee monthly as corporate divide widens\n\nRamp's latest AI index reveals the top 1% of companies are outspending the median firm by a factor of 600, painting a picture of an increasingly lopsided AI arms race.\n\nThe top 1% of US businesses are now spending a median of $7,400 per employee per month on AI tools and services, according to Ramp’s August 2026 AI Index. The figure, drawn from July 2026 data, represents more than a tripling from early 2024, when the same cohort was spending under $1,000 per employee monthly.\n\n## The spending gap is a canyon\n\nThe top 10% of companies on Ramp’s platform spent $650 per employee per month on AI. That’s less than one-tenth of what the top 1% shells out. And the median US firm? A grand total of $11.95 per employee per month.\n\nRamp’s index, authored by the company’s lead economist Ara Kharazian, draws on anonymized transaction data from businesses using Ramp’s corporate card and expense management platform.\n\n## Everyone is spending more, but the whales dominate\n\nSpending has more than tripled recently at every level of the distribution. But the pattern Ramp identifies is what it calls a “whales-first” dynamic. A tiny fraction of companies are responsible for the overwhelming majority of total AI expenditure growth.\n\nPrevious editions of the Ramp AI Index showed similarly elevated figures for the top cohort, with spending around $7,500 per employee in earlier months. The July number of $7,400 actually represents a slight dip, and the report flags potential signs of spending fatigue among this elite group.\n\n## Anthropic gains ground as model preferences shift\n\nAnthropic now claims a 43.5% share of businesses on Ramp’s platform. Meanwhile, growth in OpenAI’s adoption has slowed, according to the report.\n\n**Disclosure:** This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our\n\n[Editorial Policy](https://cryptobriefing.com/editorial-policy/).", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/us-businesses-ai-spending-surges-to-7400-per-employee-monthly-as-corporate", "canonical_source": "https://cryptobriefing.com/us-business-ai-spending-surges-per-employee/", "published_at": "2026-08-17 02:27:51+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-17 02:41:21.445088+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-products", "ai-infrastructure"], "entities": ["Ramp", "Anthropic", "OpenAI", "Ara Kharazian"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/us-businesses-ai-spending-surges-to-7400-per-employee-monthly-as-corporate", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/us-businesses-ai-spending-surges-to-7400-per-employee-monthly-as-corporate.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/us-businesses-ai-spending-surges-to-7400-per-employee-monthly-as-corporate.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/us-businesses-ai-spending-surges-to-7400-per-employee-monthly-as-corporate.jsonld"}}