Silicon Valley attracts 60%
As global investment in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector has reached its peak, the capital attraction of AI companies almost doubled last year compared to the previous year. In particular, 60% of all investments are concentrated in Silicon Valley in the United States, making the “push phenomenon” of funds, companies and talents flocking to certain regions more pronounced.
According to the “2025 AI Investment Report” jointly released by data analysis company Crunchbase and global AI conference operator HumanX on the 31st of last month, the amount attracted to AI-related businesses globally last year was $211 billion (about 302 trillion won). This is an 85% increase from $114 billion in 2024. Investments in AI have more than tripled in just two years, growing rapidly from $65 billion in 2023. “Last year, approximately 50% of global venture capital investment funds were invested in AI companies,” the report said. “AI has actually become the standard for startup investing.”
Along with the expansion of investments, the concentration of funds has also increased significantly. Of the total AI investments, 77% represented large companies with over $100 million. In terms of amount, $163 billion was concentrated in a small number of companies. This figure is significantly higher than the proportion of large investments (67%) in 2024, meaning that the “win-win” structure, in which capital is concentrated as a leading company with proven technology and market dominance, is solidifying.
By region, the Bay Area, including San Francisco and Silicon Valley, displayed overwhelming dominance. Last year, the Bay Area attracted $126 billion, or about 60% of its total investment in AI. AI represents 81% of startup investments in the region, an increase of more than 10 percentage points in one year from around 70% in 2024.
The report assesses: “The talent pool, access to capital, and speed of product development are brought together in one location, and the Bay Area acts as a “global control center” for the AI revolution. However, in terms of the number of investments, the Bay Area represents only 22% of the total. This shows that a relatively small number of companies are monopolizing mega-investments. In fact, 92 Bay Area companies managed to attract more than $100 million in investment last year alone.
By country, the proportion of investment in US companies was $166 billion, or 79% of the total. By industry, modeling companies that develop AI-based models, such as large language models (LLM), attracted $87 billion, or about 40% of the total.
In particular, the amount attracted by the two companies OpenAI and Anslogic amounts to $58.5 billion. Aside from that, around $124 billion in investments were relatively evenly distributed across robotics, healthcare, security, semiconductors, and cloud infrastructure. This shows that AI technology is expanding beyond the research stage and into the entire industry. “Investors are no longer running funds in the name of AI alone,” said Jagger McConnell, CEO of Crunchbase. “We bet selectively on companies that have proven real-world performance.” (Wonho-seop, Silicon Valley correspondent)