The U.S. economy grew faster in the spring than the government first estimated, with the Bureau of Economic Analysis reporting on Sept. 30 that gross domestic product rose at a 2.2% annual rate in the second quarter of 2026. That was up from the previous 1.5% estimate, and the agency said the revision mainly reflected stronger investment, consumer spending and government spending.
The update matters well beyond Wall Street because it showed firmer private-sector demand than the headline GDP number alone suggests. A closely watched measure of underlying growth, real final sales to private domestic purchasers, was revised up to 4.6%, a sign that consumers and businesses kept spending even as imports cut into the top-line figure.
Federal revision points to stronger investment
The Bureau of Economic Analysis said real GDP increased at a 2.2% annual rate in the second quarter, covering April, May and June 2026. The agency said the 0.7 percentage point upward revision from the second estimate was driven primarily by upward revisions to investment, consumer spending and government spending.
The most detailed explanation came in the agency’s technical notes. BEA said the revision to private fixed investment was led by nonresidential structures, especially commercial and health care projects, mainly data centers, based on revised Census Bureau construction data for May and June. That gives hard federal backing to the idea that AI-related building helped lift growth.
Other parts of the report showed broad strength under the surface. BEA said real gross domestic income rose 2.6% in the quarter, and current-dollar GDP increased at an 8.5% annual rate. Corporate profits from current production increased by $384.0 billion in the second quarter, though that figure was revised down by $16.9 billion from the prior estimate.
Outside economists and news services tied the stronger numbers to the fast buildout of AI infrastructure. AP reported that business investment excluding housing rose at a 9% annual rate in the second quarter, reflecting the AI investment boom, while consumer spending increased at a 3.8% pace after growing just 0.7% in the first quarter.
AP also reported that imports rose at a 12.6% annual pace from April through June, partly because of shipments of computer chips and other products that support AI investment. Because imports are subtracted in GDP calculations, that surge cut nearly 1.7 percentage points from second-quarter growth even as it reflected strong domestic demand.
Michael Pearce, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, told AP that “The economy is increasingly reliant on AI gains and the corresponding wealth effects boosting higher-income households’ spending power to fuel recent growth.” He also warned that the economy remains sensitive to a sudden reversal in optimism around AI.
The GDP report does not say that every part of the economy is accelerating equally. BEA said the main contributors to second-quarter growth were consumer spending, investment and exports, while imports increased. From an industry view, the leading contributors were real estate and rental and leasing, information, durable goods manufacturing, and finance and insurance.
There were also signs of resilience in areas that had been weak. AP reported that housing investment rose 2.8%, the first increase since the end of 2024, even though high mortgage rates have weighed on the market. That suggests at least some corners of the economy held up better than expected in the spring.
The next major checkpoint is close. BEA said its advance estimate for third-quarter 2026 GDP is scheduled for Oct. 29, 2026. Until then, the clearest confirmed takeaway from the latest revision is that business investment, including data center construction tied to AI, played a central role in lifting second-quarter growth above the government’s earlier reading.