AI is driving huge productivity gains for large companies, while small companies get left behind (www.cnbc.com)

Wells Fargo analysis finds AI is widening a productivity gap: large-cap firms have posted steady AI-related gains in real revenue per worker since OpenAI’s ChatGPT debut in 2022, while small-cap companies have fallen behind. The bank reports S&P 500 productivity up 5.5% (and the index up ~74% since ChatGPT) versus a 12.3% productivity decline for the Russell 2000 (up ~39%). Major companies have rapidly scaled internal AI and robotics to streamline supply chains, automate tasks and cut labor costs, driving outsized returns for firms that can absorb the investment and integrate systems at scale. Technical signals underline the shift and its labor-market implications: the metric is real revenue per worker, and supporting evidence includes Amazon’s robotic deployments (estimated savings of ~$0.30 per item; Morgan Stanley projects $2–4B in savings by 2027), Klarna’s ~40% workforce shrinkage tied to AI, CrowdStrike and IBM headcount reductions, and a WEF survey showing ~40% of companies expect workforce reductions in automatable roles. While Intuit found 68% of small businesses have adopted AI and report productivity gains, they’re not seeing the same revenue-per-worker lift—highlighting capital, data and integration scale as decisive factors. The result: AI is amplifying winner-take-most dynamics among firms and accelerating structural labor displacement and competitive divergence across the economy.