A May 2026 Monthly Labor Review article, which notes that BLS captures business AI use through its software capital measure, found US private business investment in software grew at a compound 11.1% a year from 2019 to 2024
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics measured the compound annual growth rate of private business investment in software. This investment grew 11.1 percent a year from 2019 to 2024.
Verified 2026-11-01
Track with InsiderWhy it matters
Companies are steering a growing share of their investment budgets toward software, the channel through which AI tools are bought, which supports software sellers' growth.
More on Capital
- While Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet and Oracle have all sharply increased AI capital spending, Apple's cash paid for property, plant and equipment in the nine months to 27 June 2026 actually fell, to Apple's nine-month capex of $6.8 billion, down 28% from $9.47 billion a year earlier
- A Brookings Papers draft by Columbia's Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh projects that the US AI build-out of 2025 to 2032 will absorb, every year, 3.63% of GDP, versus 2.24% for the railroads of 1870–1890
- Global private investment in AI reached $344.7 billion in 2025, up 127.5% year-over-year, with generative AI companies alone capturing $170.9 billion of that total
FREE · NO CARD
Facts like this, six days a week
The Daily Receipts on weekdays, The Weekly Brief on Saturday — six sourced facts a day by email, two more than the free site shows. Every one traced to the filing it came from. Free.
Get the free daily briefFree · No card · Unsubscribe anytime
Join now and you start with 100 Receipts on The Receipts Ledger — your first step toward a free year of Insider or Pro. How it works →
See today's issue →