Dive Brief:
- U.S. merger-and-acquisition dealmaking with artificial intelligence as a key focus has surged in recent years, according to data shared with CFO Dive by 451 Research, part of S&P Global Market Intelligence.
- The aggregate value of AI-driven M&A deals in the U.S. rose to $107.9 billion last year, an increase of about 9.7% year over year and nearly 80% compared with 2022 levels, according to the figures. More than 600 such deals were announced in 2025, up from 489 in the prior year and 445 three years earlier.
- There’s a growing “fear of missing out” among businesses when it comes to AI, according to Scott Denne, a senior analyst at 451 Research. “Companies see that agentic technologies are starting to work into enterprise workflows,” he said in an interview. “Their clients are interested and experimenting with AI. Their competitors all have it as a high priority on their product roadmaps. Though it’s early days, it creates a desire to make sure you’re part of what is likely to be a significant change.”
Dive Insight:
Last year’s top 10 AI deals in terms of size include IBM’s $11 billion agreement to acquire Confluent, a provider of data services designed to support AI deployments. The list also includes a now-completed deal by ServiceNow to acquire agentic AI platform provider Moveworks for $2.85 billion. The Moveworks acquisition comes amid the rapid rise of AI agents capable of performing workplace tasks with little human intervention.
“The deals are getting larger, and the deals that are getting done look a bit different,” Denne said. “When you look back at 2022, those deals involve more older flavors of AI — machine learning and the like. Today, a lot more of the deals involve GenAI, agentic AI, LLMs [large language models] — things that have gotten a lot of interest and attention since the ChatGPT rollout in late 2022.”
AI helped drive an overall spike in M&A activity last year, despite uncertainty triggered by major shifts in economic policy, according to a December analysis by Big Four accounting and consulting firm PwC.
“I think AI is a high priority because it is such a transformative piece of technology,” Kevin Desai, PwC’s U.S. deals platform leader, said in an interview. “While a lot of us are talking about the use of AI to become more efficient, the reality is that AI as a tool to create new capabilities, new products, and new product differentiations in order to grow the top line of the business is probably something companies are pushing harder at.”
Sweeping tariff changes and stricter immigration enforcement were among the factors that hindered gross domestic product growth in 2025 while also creating uncertainty for businesses, according to PwC. Yet, from January through the end of November of last year, overall M&A deal value rose about 45% year over year, it said.
U.S. companies announced a total of 10,333 deals worth a combined $1.6 trillion during the 11-month period, including 74 transactions valued at $5 billion or more — the most since 2021. More than 20% of the mega-deals were driven by AI.
“I think well-capitalized businesses with strong balance sheets can better withstand some of these economic shocks, which is probably what’s causing a higher growth rate in mega-deals,” Desai said.
Nearly 78% of large companies invested in AI last year, compared with 48% of small businesses that did so during the same period, according to the results of a CFO survey released last month by Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and the Federal Reserve Banks of Richmond and Atlanta.
Small firms indicated they are eager to close the gap, with roughly 80% reporting plans to invest in AI this year.
The environment for overall dealmaking has improved heading into 2026, PwC said.
“For now, trade policy is stabilizing, which is good for executive confidence and M&A,” the report said. But challenges remain, including U.S.-China trade tensions, an uncertain jobs market, and “balancing interest rates with the persistent specter of inflation,” it said.
