AI frenzy helps mint 600,000 new U.S. millionaires, trouncing the rest of the world

That’s greater than the inhabitants of Baltimore, bringing the entire variety of People who’ve at the very least $1 million in investable belongings, not together with their major residence, to 7.5 million, CNBC reported citing information from Paris-based consulting firm Capgemini.

Final yr’s 7.3% soar in U.S. millionaires helped North America reclaim the very best development fee for millionaires on the earth from the Asia-Pacific area.

Asia noticed millionaire development of 4.8%, whereas Europe’s variety of millionaires rose by 4%. The variety of millionaires in Latin America elevated by 2.7% final yr and a couple of.1% within the Center East. Africa noticed a 0.1% decline, based on Capgemini.

The wealth of all of the millionaires within the U.S. mixed was about $26 trillion. The variety of folks with a internet value of $30 million or extra reached about 100,000 as properly, they usually have a cumulative internet value of about $7.4 trillion.

AI and tech shares gas millionaire surge

The millionaire development fee within the U.S. was partly fueled by a soar within the inventory market led by AI and tech firms. The S&P 500 index skyrocketed 24% final yr thanks partly to investor optimism over the way forward for AI. 

AI chip provider Nvidia led the index with a 239% achieve in 2023. Meta and Tesla, two different tech giants concerned in AI, surged 194% and 102%, respectively, final yr. Goldman Sachs estimates that AI funding may attain as excessive as $200 billion globally by 2025. 

The inventory market beneficial properties that helped add so many millionaires in 2023 have continued to this point this yr because the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq index hit file highs this week. The S&P 500 is up about 12% year-to-date and a number of the greatest gamers in AI, like Nvidia and Microsoft, have seen their shares proceed to soar in 2024.