OpenAI has reasserted its dominance in the enterprise AI market, with new data from financial platform Ramp revealing that business adoption of OpenAI products reached a record high of 36.8% in December 2025, up two percentage points from November. This marks a significant rebound after a brief slowdown in the fall and demonstrates OpenAI’s continued lead over competitors like Anthropic and Google in the corporate AI space.
The data comes from Ramp, a startup that analyzes corporate spending patterns from more than 50,000 US businesses, tracking billions of dollars spent on AI services monthly. According to their latest report, overall AI adoption among US businesses climbed to 46.6% in December, representing a 1.6 percentage point increase from November—the largest month-over-month jump since mid-2025.
OpenAI’s growth was driven by gains in both enterprise chat subscriptions and API spending, suggesting broader usage across office workers and technical teams. The company reported having 1 million business customers as of November 2025, though current paid user numbers remain undisclosed. Ramp’s line-item data indicates that December’s growth reflects recurring spend tied to everyday business functions, including software development, research, finance, sales, and customer support—signaling that companies are moving beyond experimentation to practical implementation.
While competitors are gaining ground, they remain far behind. Anthropic’s adoption rose to 16.7%, with growth concentrated among technology companies making heavy use of APIs. Google’s AI adoption increased to 4.3%, though Ramp notes this figure likely understates actual usage since many businesses access Gemini for free through Google Workspace plans.
It’s important to note that Ramp’s data excludes free AI tool usage and personal account usage for work tasks, meaning actual AI adoption rates are likely higher than reported. The rebound comes after concerns earlier in the year when Google’s Gemini chatbot began gaining traction against ChatGPT, raising questions about OpenAI’s market position. The December numbers suggest those concerns may have been premature, with OpenAI maintaining its substantial lead in the enterprise market.
Key Quotes
The share of US businesses paying for AI products and services rose to 46.6% in December, up 1.6 percentage points from November. That was the largest month-over-month increase since mid-2025.
This data from Ramp demonstrates that AI adoption is accelerating among US businesses, with nearly half now paying for AI services—a significant milestone indicating mainstream enterprise acceptance.
December’s growth reflects recurring spend tied to everyday business functions, including software development, research, finance, sales, and customer support.
This observation from Ramp’s analysis is particularly significant because it shows businesses are moving beyond experimentation to integrate AI into core operational workflows, suggesting sustainable long-term adoption rather than temporary trial usage.
Our Take
OpenAI’s resurgence in December reveals an important truth about the enterprise AI market: first-mover advantage and ecosystem lock-in matter tremendously. Despite Google’s technical capabilities and Anthropic’s strong reputation among developers, OpenAI’s early lead with ChatGPT has translated into durable enterprise relationships. The fact that growth came from both chat subscriptions and API usage suggests OpenAI has successfully built a comprehensive platform that serves multiple use cases. However, the exclusion of free usage from this data is significant—Google’s strategy of bundling Gemini with Workspace could be building a massive user base that eventually converts to paid services. The real question is whether OpenAI can maintain this lead as competitors improve their models and enterprises become more sophisticated AI buyers. The winner-take-most dynamic evident in these numbers could also attract regulatory scrutiny as AI becomes critical business infrastructure.
Why This Matters
This data provides crucial insight into the competitive dynamics of the rapidly evolving enterprise AI market at a pivotal moment when businesses are transitioning from AI experimentation to production deployment. OpenAI’s ability to regain momentum and reach record adoption levels demonstrates the strength of its enterprise offerings and suggests that early concerns about losing ground to Google may have been overblown.
The 46.6% overall business adoption rate signals that AI has crossed into mainstream enterprise use, with nearly half of US businesses now paying for AI services. This represents a fundamental shift in how companies operate, with AI becoming embedded in core business functions rather than remaining a novelty or experimental tool.
For the broader AI industry, these numbers validate the massive investments being made in AI infrastructure and development. The fact that spending is concentrated in recurring, production use cases—rather than one-time experiments—suggests sustainable revenue streams for AI providers. However, the data also reveals a winner-take-most dynamic, with OpenAI capturing the lion’s share of enterprise spending while competitors struggle to gain meaningful market share, which could have implications for competition, innovation, and the future structure of the AI industry.
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Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-business-spending-ai-models-jumps-record-ramp-data-2026-1