According to the latest data in the "Mary Meeker's Internet Trends Report," the number of users, usage volume, and related capital expenditures (CapEx) for artificial intelligence (AI) have shown unprecedented growth. The report emphasizes that this "upward and rightward" trend is not only reflected in the skyrocketing number of AI users and usage but is also strongly supported by relevant capital expenditures.
Taking ChatGPT as an example, its weekly active user base grew 8 times in just 17 months, reaching 800 million. The Internet Trends Report points out that ChatGPT reached 100 million users faster than any other foundational technology product in history, taking only 0.2 years, far surpassing the time it took products like Ford Model T, TiVo, and iPhone to reach the same scale.
Unlike the diffusion of internet technologies from the U.S. to the world during the 1.0 era, ChatGPT has almost simultaneously become popular across most regions globally. By April 2025, the ChatGPT mobile app had 530 million monthly active users worldwide, with the highest proportion being Indian users (14%), followed by American users (9%).
In terms of capital expenditure, the Internet Trends Report shows that capital expenditures in AI-related fields are exhibiting a "**rightward and upward**" growth trend. Over the past decade, the annual growth rate of capital expenditures by six major U.S. tech giants (Apple, NVIDIA, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon [only AWS], and Meta Platforms) was 21%, accelerating to 63% growth between 2023 and 2024, reaching $212 billion. The report clearly states that by 2023, AI had become a significant capital expenditure project.
This massive investment reflects the determination of enterprises to drive growth through AI and defend against market competition. In a blog post in April 2025, Microsoft Vice President and President Brad Smith noted: "AI and cloud computing data centers represent the next stage of industrialization, much like electricity and other general-purpose technologies in the past."
