A new analysis by TRG Datacenters reveals that the artificial intelligence industry generated more than $200 billion in revenue last year, despite major AI companies employing an average of just 1,500 people. The study analysed financial and workforce data from leading AI firms to identify those with the highest revenue-per-employee productivity, offering rare insight into how efficiently these companies convert talent into revenue.

The research examined publicly available financial statements from the past two years, focusing on frontier-model developers, research divisions, and emerging applied-AI companies. It ranked firms based on staff count, annual income and revenue generated per employee—an increasingly important metric in a sector where automation is rapidly reshaping productivity norms.

Top AI Companies by Revenue Per Employee

Copilot Leads Global Productivity Ranking

Copilot tops the list as the most productive AI company in the world, generating over $4.2 million per employee. Despite having only 94 employees, the company earns $400 million annually from its 20 million monthly active users. Its compact workforce and high-margin software model give it a significant productivity edge.

OpenAI at No. 2 With Multi-Billion Revenues

OpenAI ranks second with a workforce of 3,000 people driving $8.6 billion in yearly revenue. Each OpenAI employee effectively generates $2.87 million and supports more than 265,000 of ChatGPT’s 800 million users. The company’s scale-and-automation advantage puts it far above traditional tech-sector productivity benchmarks.

DeepSeek Secures Third Place

Chinese AI developer DeepSeek comes in third, earning an estimated $1.25 million per employee. Operating with just 160 employees, DeepSeek maintains one of the leanest teams in the global AI sector and serves around 10 million users.

Healthcare-AI Hybrid Tempus AI Ranks Fourth

Tempus AI, which combines AI with regulated healthcare data, employs 2,400 people and reports $693 million in annual revenue—approximately $289,000 per worker. Despite being lower than model-focused firms, the figure remains strong for a healthcare company. Tempus is currently valued at $16 billion.

xAI Takes Fifth Place

Elon Musk’s xAI ranks fifth with $198,000 per employee, supported by a 900-person team and $178 million in annual revenue. The well-funded company, now at 64 million users, has raised $10 billion to expand its early-stage AI offerings.

European Champion Mistral AI Follows

Mistral AI, regarded as Europe’s leading independent AI developer, generates $85,700 per employee across its 350-person workforce. With a valuation of $13.7 billion and nearly $2 billion in funding, Mistral remains well-capitalized despite modest revenues of $30 million.

DeepMind, Anthropic, and Perplexity Round Out the List

Google’s DeepMind division employs the largest workforce 6,000 employees bringing in $506 million annually, or $84,300 per employee.

Anthropic ranks eighth, generating $66,900 per employee, reflecting its prioritization of safety research and enterprise partnerships over rapid revenue scaling.

Perplexity AI is listed as the least efficient company in the ranking, generating $49,100 per employee from its 1,600-strong workforce.

AI Productivity Boom Is Just Beginning

“The AI industry is projected to hit $1.8 trillion by 2030, and the productivity numbers here show why that’s realistic,” said a TRG Datacenters spokesperson. “AI is already writing 50–60 per cent of code at companies like GitHub and Google. Smaller teams can build bigger products, and companies can scale to billions in revenue without increasing headcount the way traditional tech firms did.”

With AI tools increasingly automating white-collar workflows, revenue per employee is expected to rise further potentially redefining how productivity is measured across the global technology sector.