The U.S. economy recovered to a 2% range growth pace in the first quarter of this year. The driver was large-scale investment centered on the artificial intelligence (AI) industry.
The U.S. Commerce Department said on the 30th (local time) that the advance growth rate of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) for the first quarter this year was tallied at 2.0% (annualized quarter over quarter). However, it fell short of the 2.2% consensus compiled by Dow Jones.
Despite the fallout from the Iran war, AI-related investment such as data center construction and server equipment buildout led the growth trend.
Personal consumption rose 1.6%, slowing from 1.9% in the fourth quarter of last year, while private investment surged 8.7%.
Private investment contributed 1.48 percentage points (p) to overall growth. Among this, investment in information processing equipment made a large contribution of 0.83 percentage points.
Government spending also increased 4.4%, adding 0.73 percentage points to first-quarter growth. At the end of last year, the U.S. federal government shutdown acted to shave nearly 1 percentage point off growth via fourth-quarter government spending.
In the fourth quarter of last year, the U.S. economy slowed to 0.5% growth. With consumption gains moderating, the federal government shutdown (temporary work stoppage) also had an impact.
Unlike Korea, the United States releases GDP statistics by converting the quarter-over-quarter growth rate (seasonally adjusted) into an annualized rate.
Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist at consulting firm RSM, told The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), "What we are seeing now is AI-led GDP gains," and "growth could weaken over the next few quarters because of the Iran war," he said.