Recent data reveals that the country - code top - level domain ".ai", allocated to Anguilla—a British Overseas Territory—has transformed into a vital asset for this tiny island, which is home to just 15,000 people, largely thanks to the burgeoning generative AI sector. According to data from Domain Name Stat, a well - known domain name statistics agency, as of January 2, 2026, the number of ".ai" domain name registrations has exceeded 1 million.

This remarkable surge in registrations took off following the launch of ChatGPT at the end of 2022. At that time, global companies and developers rushed to register domain names related to AI, triggering a registration frenzy. Over the past five years, the number of ".ai" domain name registrations has skyrocketed by over 600%. It jumped from less than 90,000 in 2020 to over 600,000 in 2025. In 2025 alone, there was a year - on - year increase of over 60%.

The domain name trading market has also been highly active. For instance, wisdom.ai set a public trading record by being sold for US$750,000. Among the top 100 global domain name transactions, ".ai" domain names claimed 24 positions. The total transaction value of these ".ai" domain names approached US$5 million, with an average price exceeding US$200,000.

When it comes to corporate strategic deployment, tech behemoths have been the main driving force. Elon Musk's xAI launched the x.ai domain. Google registered google.ai. Alibaba set tongyi.ai to redirect users to its Tongyi Qianwen large language model. Moreover, companies such as Huawei and XPENG Motors have also secured.ai domain names. This trend clearly shows that.ai domain names have emerged as crucial assets for corporate brand protection and strategic planning in the AI field.