Immigrants and American Economic Development
Immigrants and their children account for a disproportionate number of entrepreneurs and CEOs of technology companies. Half of the graduate students in engineering, math and science in US universities are foreigners. In the past, a high percent stayed in the United States after graduation. Immigrants are founders or current CEOs of most of America’s leading tech companies. (Nvidia, Google, Microsoft, Tesla, AMD, Intel) The economic impact and importance of companies founded by immigrants or their children. More than 46 percent of Fortune 500 companies in 2025 (231 out of 500) were founded by immigrants or their children, including: 109 companies founded by immigrants. 122 companies founded by children of immigrants. Among the 14 companies that appeared on the Fortune 500 list for the first time this year, 10 were founded by immigrants or their children. In fiscal year 2024, these 231 Fortune 500 companies generated $8.6 trillion in revenue—an amount that, if compared with ...