Select your industry for key data and takeaways
30%
of CEOs report increased revenue from AI in the last 12 months.
42%
of CEOs say their company has begun competing in new sectors over the past five years.
23%
of consumer markets (CM) CEOs say they’re highly exposed to tariffs.
33%
of CM CEOs say they have defined processes that account for risks and opportunities from climate change in their supply chain.
36%
of energy, utilities, and resources (EUR) CEOs say they have defined processes in product design and development that account for the risks and opportunities from climate change.
35%
of EUR CEOs say their C-suite leadership team has prepared their company to anticipate major disruptions.
53%
of financial services (FS) CEOs say the question that concerns them the most is whether their company is transforming fast enough to keep up with tech/AI.
48%
of FS firms have begun competing in new sectors over the past five years.
31%
of government and public sector (G&PS) CEOs say their organisations are highly or extremely exposed to significant financial loss from cyber risk.
32%
of G&PS CEOs say geopolitical uncertainty, including tariffs, has made them less likely to make large new investments than they were last year.
48%
of health industries CEOs are concerned about transforming fast enough to keep up with changes in tech and AI.
23%
of tech CEOs named health services as a sector where they will seek to grow their business in the next three years.
52%
of industrials and services (I&S) CEOs say their companies have competed in new sectors or industries in the last five years.
34%
of I&S CEOs say that their C-suite leadership team has equipped their company to respond effectively to disruptions.
39%
of private equity and principal investors (PE&PI) CEOs are confident in their company’s prospects for revenue growth over the next 12 months, versus 56% over the next three years.
82%
of PE&PI CEOs have seen no impact on revenue from AI over the past 12 months, and 64% report no impact on costs.
38%
of technology, media, and telecom (TMT) CEOs have seen an increase in revenue from AI over the past 12 months.
48%
of TMT CEOs are concerned about transforming fast enough to keep up with changes in tech and AI.
Among the key findings from this year’s survey:
- Most CEOs say their companies aren’t yet seeing a financial return from investments in AI. Although close to a third (30%) report increased revenue from AI in the last 12 months and a quarter (26%) are seeing lower costs, more than half (56%) say they’ve realised neither revenue nor cost benefits.
- CEOs are seeking growth opportunities outside of their sectors. More than 40% say their companies have started to compete in new sectors in the last five years. Among those planning large acquisitions over the next three years, four in ten expect to do deals in other sectors or industries.
- Compared to last year, CEOs are less confident about their company’s near-term revenue growth prospects. Only 30% are very or extremely confident about revenue growth over the next 12 months, down from 38% in last year’s survey and the recent peak of 56% in 2022.
- Almost a third of CEOs (29%) say tariffs will reduce their company’s net profit margin over the next 12 months. The majority (60%) expect little to no change. Among those expecting margin compression, most anticipate only a slight decline.
- Two-thirds of CEOs (66%) say stakeholder trust concerns have arisen in at least one area of business operations over the last 12 months. There’s a significant gap in total shareholder returns over this period between public companies experiencing the most and the fewest trust concerns.
Navigating such a complex environment places a premium on leadership agility, including the ability to move quickly between issues, opportunities, and time horizons. CEOs say they spend nearly half (47%) of their time on issues with time horizons of less than one year. That’s three times more than the 16% dedicated to activities with a horizon of more than five years. Are they striking the right balance? It’s a question CEOs should ask themselves as they strive to build organisations to thrive both today and tomorrow.
The opportunity horizon
AI at enterprise scale
When we asked CEOs to pick the question that concerns them most these days, there was a clear winner: are we transforming our business fast enough to keep up with technology, including AI?
About one-third of CEOs (30%) say their company has realised tangible results from AI adoption over the last 12 months through additional revenues. On the question of costs, 26% of CEOs say costs have decreased due to AI, while 22% report an increase. More than half (56%) say their company has seen neither higher revenues nor lower costs from AI, while only one in eight (12%) report both of these positive impacts.
Most companies haven’t yet realised financial returns from their investment in AI
Clearly, we’re in the early stages of the AI era. Asked about the extent to which their organisations are deploying AI across the business, a relatively small proportion of CEOs say they’re applying it to a large or very large extent to areas such as demand generation (22%); support services (20%); the company’s products, services, and experiences (19%); direction setting (15%); or demand fulfilment (13%). Consider also that in PwC’s Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2025, only 14% of workers said they were using generative AI daily.
Sectors without borders
AI isn’t the only powerful force reshaping global business. The collision of technology, climate change, geopolitics, and other megatrends is creating new customer needs and preferences, enabling new business models, and blurring the boundaries between industries. Many companies are already venturing across sector and industry boundaries in pursuit of reinvention and growth. Four in ten CEOs (42%) say their company has started to compete in new sectors in the last five years, consistent with last year’s survey. Among CEOs planning to make at least one major acquisition in the next three years, a similar proportion (44%) expect to do deals outside of their existing sector or industry.
Asked about which other sectors they’re looking to for growth—whether organically or through acquisitions—the top pick among CEOs globally is technology. Technology CEOs, in turn, are seeking to grow in healthcare, business services, and banking and capital markets. The last of these reflects continued expansion by financial technology firms into banking and payments, as well as efforts by large technology players to partner with or disrupt incumbent financial institutions.
Globalisation in motion
A little over half of CEOs (51%) are planning to make international investments in the year ahead. Delving further into these global ambitions, the United States consolidates its position as the top destination, with more than a third (35%) of CEOs placing it in the top three countries that will receive the highest proportion of their investment. The United Kingdom and Germany (both 13%) and the Chinese Mainland (11%) remain popular choices.
Among the significant changes from last year’s survey, 13% of CEOs planning to make international investments selected India, up from 7%.
The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia break into the top ten, with strong representation from CEOs in consumer packaged goods, banking and capital markets, health services, technology, and engineering and construction. This is a reminder of how the Middle East economy is diversifying away from oil and gas as Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries embark on an ambitious multi-decade infrastructure expansion that includes model cities, industrial clusters, and large-scale data centre projects. The data centre opportunity extends not only to technology companies but also to engineering and construction firms, utilities, infrastructure investors, and banks.
Confidence down, threats up
Compared to the findings from last year’s Global CEO Survey, leaders are significantly less confident about their company’s revenue growth outlook over the next 12 months. Confidence in the three-year revenue growth outlook has also declined, although the decrease is less significant.
What explains this ebbing confidence? Although CEOs remain generally optimistic about growth prospects for the global economy, they’re less confident in many countries about the local economic outlook. Industry cycles are also at work. For example, lower confidence about short-term revenue growth among insurance CEOs comes as a golden period for industry profitability is now ending. Equally, oil executives are facing weak demand and industry-wide concern about oversupply.
Beyond these sector-specific dynamics, CEOs generally have grown more concerned about a range of near-term threats, including macroeconomic volatility, cyber risk, technology disruption, and geopolitical conflict. Almost a third (31%) say their company is highly or extremely exposed to the risk of a significant financial loss from cyber threats in the year ahead, up from 24% in last year’s survey and 21% two years ago. Cyber risks now rank alongside macroeconomic volatility as the top threats identified by CEOs. About eight in ten (84%) say they’re planning to improve enterprise-wide cybersecurity practices in response to geopolitical risk, underlining the interconnected nature of the threats they face.
Uncertainty relating to tariffs is a new consideration as governments recalibrate tax policy to support national interests, secure supply chains, and address fiscal shortfalls. One in five CEOs (20%) say their company is highly or extremely exposed to the risk of a significant financial loss from tariffs over the next 12 months. Trepidation varies greatly by geography, ranging from just 6% on average across Middle Eastern countries to 28% on the Chinese Mainland, 30% in Turkey, and 35% in Mexico. Among US CEOs, 22% say their company is highly or extremely exposed to tariffs, which is close to the global average.
Almost a third of CEOs (29%) globally say tariffs will reduce their company’s net profit margin in the year ahead, versus 60% expecting little to no change and 6% anticipating margin improvement. Among those expecting margin compression due to tariffs, most anticipate a decline of less than 15%.
Your next move: Calibrate your concerns. Uncertainty is always present. The question facing CEOs is how to avoid becoming frozen in a world where dynamism pays. Data from this year’s survey shows that companies planning to make major acquisitions and other large investments—despite the uncertain environment—are growing faster and enjoying higher profit margins.
A second key question facing leaders is whether their perceptions and plans are based on current and relevant intelligence. As we’ve found in previous editions of PwC’s Global CEO Survey, it can be striking how threat perceptions can vary greatly even among countries in close proximity. For example, more than a third (34%) of CEOs in Germany say their company is highly or extremely exposed to cyber risks in the year ahead. That figure compares to only 16% among UK CEOs, even though companies there continue to experience regular, high-profile cyberattacks. Moving into 2026, CEOs everywhere should take the opportunity to revisit their assumptions and calibrate with peers across borders.
The road to reinvention
Innovate to reinvent
When we asked CEOs to pick the question that concerns them most these days, in second place (after technology and AI) was an issue related to innovation: is my company’s innovation capability adequate for our uncertain future? What’s more, half of all CEOs say innovation is central to their company’s business strategy.
When asked about specific practices that support innovation, however, we see a gap between aspiration and reality. Only one in four CEOs agree to a large or very large extent that their company tolerates high-risk innovation projects; has routine processes in place to stop underperforming research and development projects; or has a defined innovation centre, incubator, or corporate venturing division. In all, we asked about six innovation-friendly practices. Fewer than one in ten CEOs (8%) say their company has implemented at least five of the six practices to a large or very large extent.
Your next move: Integrate climate change into decision-making. A byproduct of new sustainability reporting requirements is the expanded stores of sustainability data now available to many companies that can be fed into decision-making processes. With better data at hand, these companies have an opportunity to move from a risk management mindset to active value creation. While every company has a unique set of sustainability factors that influence its ability to create value, our experience working with organisations points to five interconnected topics that drive value creation for most: physical climate risk, regulation, energy strategy, supply chains, and tax credits and incentives.
In addition, our survey data shows companies with defined processes for bringing climate-related risks and opportunities into decisions are faster to market and more agile when it comes to adapting to changing demand or supply conditions, whether these changes are caused by climate events or other factors.
Chapter 4 Dynamism or denial?
Organisations can’t excel at everything. The challenge facing CEOs at this critical moment is to decide, in conjunction with their top team and board, how the company’s value-creation recipe needs to change for the decade of innovation and industry reconfiguration ahead. While there’s no single answer to the challenges CEOs face—nobody can know for sure what the global economy will look like in ten years—perhaps the biggest danger is denial.
Throughout this year’s Global CEO Survey, we see evidence that companies moving the furthest and fastest to reinvent their business and operating models are outpacing their less-dynamic peers. To recap:
- About one in eight survey respondents (12%) have realised cost savings and generated additional revenues from AI over the last year. How? By putting strong foundations in place and applying AI more extensively across the business, including to the company’s own products, services, and experiences.
- A similar proportion (8%) of respondents are using proven innovation practices to drive revenue from new products and services. They’re growing faster overall and achieving higher profit margins.
- Four in ten respondents (42%) say their companies have started competing in new sectors or industries in the last five years. Those generating a higher percentage of revenue from new sectors are more profitable and have CEOs with greater confidence in the company’s growth prospects.
If you’re still not convinced about the need for urgency, consider the companies whose CEOs say geopolitical uncertainty is making them less likely to make large new investments and aren’t planning major acquisitions over the next three years. These cautious companies, comprising 15% of our sample, are growing more slowly—by two percentage points—than their peers. They also have profit margins that are three percentage points lower.
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PwC's 29th Global CEO survey
Survey methodology and notes
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For questions about the data, including additional cuts, contact the CEO Survey research and analytics team.
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