US venture capital investment in artificial intelligence companies reached a record $47 billion in Q1 of this year, according to data from PitchBook. The figure represents a 62% increase year-over-year and means that nearly half of all venture capital deployed in the United States is now going to AI-related businesses.
The biggest rounds were dominated by foundation model companies and AI infrastructure plays. Anthropic raised $8 billion, xAI secured $6 billion, and three AI chip startups collectively raised over $10 billion to challenge Nvidia's dominance in the AI accelerator market.
But beyond the headline numbers, a second wave of AI investment is targeting vertical applications. Healthcare AI companies in Boston and New York raised $4.2 billion. Legal tech AI startups in San Francisco secured $1.8 billion. And a cluster of AI-native financial services companies in Chicago and New York drew $3.1 billion.
"The first wave was building the models," said Mary Meeker, the veteran tech analyst. "The second wave is applying them to every industry. We are in the second wave now, and it is much bigger."
Job postings requiring AI skills have increased 340% in the past 18 months across the US, with the highest concentrations in San Francisco, Seattle, New York, Austin, and Boston.
