Fortune Names Three Houston Giants Among Top AI Innovators

Fortune has unveiled its inaugural AIQ 50 ranking, spotlighting the Fortune 500 companies leading in artificial intelligence adoption — and Houston's energy sector is strongly represented. Three major Houston-area businesses earned top positions: - ExxonMobil (Spring) — No. 7 - Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) (Spring) — No. 19 - Chevron (Houston) — No. 47 ExxonMobil is actively leveraging AI to support its ambitious goal of cutting $15B in operating costs by 2027, with CEO Darren Woods emphasizing AI’s role in boosting operational efficiency. Chevron is similarly investing in AI-driven data analytics, LLM-powered engineering tools, and embedded “digital scholars” to accelerate digital transformation and improve safety and exploration outcomes. The Fortune AIQ ranking, built on ServiceNow’s Enterprise AI Maturity Index and Enterprise Technology Research data, gauges how effectively companies are deploying and scaling AI. Tech and finance players dominate the top slots — including Alphabet Inc., Visa, JPMorganChase, NVIDIA, and Mastercard — but energy leaders are proving that traditional industries can rapidly innovate. Texas boasts two additional honorees: D.R. Horton (No. 29) and Oracle (No. 37), reinforcing the state’s growing status as a hub for AI-driven industrial transformation. Fortune editors note that even in legacy sectors like energy and mining, select leaders are pulling ahead by harnessing AI for operational excellence and competitive advantage.