The world’s billionaire class has never been larger—or richer—and artificial intelligence is increasingly determining who captures the biggest gains.
Combined billionaire wealth climbed 12.8% to a record $15.1 trillion in 2025, while the number of billionaires increased 8.2% to 3,795, according to Altrata’s latest Billionaire Census.
But the more striking number sits beneath the headline total.
Just 29 people worth at least $50 billion each now control $4.1 trillion, equivalent to roughly 27% of all billionaire wealth. In 2017, Altrata counted only 10 people in that “superbillionaire” group, representing 7.2% of billionaire wealth.
The result is not simply another story about the rich getting richer. It shows how the AI investment cycle is concentrating enormous gains among founders and shareholders exposed to the companies benefiting most from the technology boom.
AI Companies Pulled Billionaire Fortunes Higher
Artificial intelligence appears to be one of the clearest dividing lines.
In its Billionaire Census 2026, Altrata examined 150 publicly traded companies that contributed heavily to billionaire wealth. Companies with meaningful AI investment recorded market-cap growth 23% faster than peers without comparable AI spending over 2024 and 2025.
That creates a powerful feedback loop.
When AI-linked stocks gain value, founders, executives and major shareholders can add billions to their fortunes without selling a single share.
The pattern fits a broader concern recently raised by BlackRock CEO Larry Fink. Coinpaper covered his warning that AI could widen the divide between wage earners and asset owners, as stockholders capture more of the financial upside created by new technology.
$15.1 Trillion Is Nearly a Quarter of the S&P 500
The scale of the fortunes is difficult to put into context.
Altrata estimates the combined $15.1 trillion held by billionaires was equivalent to nearly one-quarter of the S&P 500’s total market capitalization in 2025.
And the billionaire population itself has expanded by almost 60% over the past decade.
Technology has long produced some of the world’s biggest fortunes, from Microsoft and Amazon to Tesla and Meta. Bill Gates’ Microsoft fortune illustrated just how dramatically concentrated equity ownership can compound when a technology company rises for decades.
AI may now be accelerating that effect.
