As global attention on AI safety intensifies following the Trump-Xi summit, healthcare remains one of the sectors where artificial intelligence carries the highest stakes not powering ad algorithms, but shaping how doctors read scans, triage patients, and discover new drugs. Here are three companies building AI directly into medical care.
Butterfly Network (BFLY)
Butterfly Network is working to turn the handheld ultrasound probe into a pocket-sized AI tool that plugs into existing hospital systems and helps guide less experienced clinicians through complex scans in real time. The company generates roughly $112 million from its AI-enhanced ultrasound line, including its handheld iQ devices and supporting software, and carries a market value of about $2.2 billion.
A Butterfly Network subsidiary signed a five-year co-development and licensing deal with Mid journey, securing exclusive access to its semiconductor-based ultrasound technology in exchange for a $15 million upfront payment and $10 million in annual license fees, with additional milestone and revenue-sharing potential built in. That deal raises a genuine investor question: how might this new licensing revenue shift the balance between hardware sales and longer-term AI software monetization for the company going forward?
Pfizer (PFE)
Pfizer’s scale sets it apart in this space – nearly all of its recent $63.7 billion in revenue came from its Global Biopharmaceuticals segment, backing a market value of roughly $158.1 billion. What earns Pfizer a place on this list is its growing use of biomolecular AI foundation models aimed at accelerating drug discovery, trial efficiency, and manufacturing.
The company has been expanding AI use across R&D, manufacturing, and commercial operations, already applying it to improve yield and field-force productivity, with the broader goal of faster, cheaper drug development that supports margins and earnings over time. The open question is what happens to that cost plan if AI-assisted development doesn’t move as quickly as currently assumed.
Medtronic (MDT)
Medtronic, a $117.4 billion medical-technology company, brings AI into the operating room primarily through surgical video and analytics tools even as most of its revenue still comes from established cardiovascular and neuroscience devices ($14.6 billion and $10.5 billion, respectively, with another $9 billion from its Medical Surgical portfolio housing its AI surgical platform).
Rather than betting on a single AI product, Medtronic spreads its exposure across robotic surgery, advanced sensors, and AI-enabled systems like its spine AiBLE platform. The company sees these tools expanding procedure volumes and capturing market share over time – though how quickly hospitals actually adopt and pay for these platforms remains a key variable in whether that translates into stronger margins.
