US businesses’ AI spending surges to $7,400 per employee monthly as corporate divide widens

The 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. The spending gap is a canyon The 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. Ramp’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. Everyone is spending more, but the whales dominate Spending 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. Previous editions of the Ramp AI Index showed similarly elevated figures for the top cohort, with spending around $7,500 per employee in earlier months...