Global CEO confidence sinks to five-year low as AI divides corporate leaders: PwC

SINGAPORE - Business leaders worldwide are losing confidence in their companies’ near-term growth prospects and are more worried about looming risks, a new study said.

According to PwC’s 29th Global CEO Survey, released in conjunction with the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan 20, only 30 per cent of chief executives are very or extremely confident about revenue growth over the next 12 months.

This is down from the 38 per cent seen in its survey for 2025 and the 56 per cent peak in its survey for 2022.

Beyond sector-specific demand and supply dynamics, CEOs have become more concerned about near-term threats, which range from macroeconomic volatility and cyber risk to technology disruption and geopolitical conflict.

The findings highlight how artificial intelligence (AI) – once a universal growth catalyst – has become a defining line between corporate leaders who can scale the technology and those failing to generate tangible returns.

Mr Mohamed Kande, the global chairman of PwC – a Big Four accounting firm – said a small group of companies are already turning AI into measurable financial returns, while many others are still struggling to move beyond pilots. 

“That gap is starting to show up in confidence and competitiveness, and it will widen quickly for those that don’t act,” he said.

The survey, which gathered insights from 4,454 CEOs across 95 places between Sept 30 and Nov 10, 2025, found that 42 per cent of the CEOs worry that their companies are not transforming fast enough to keep pace with technological change. 

Despite widespread experimentation, only 12 per cent of the CEOs said AI has delivered both cost and revenue benefits. 

Overall, 33 per cent reported gains in either cost or revenue, while 56 per cent said they have seen no significant financial benefit to date.

The results come as Singapore and other Asia-Pacific hubs

seek to position themselves as investment destinations

for companies scaling AI and digital infrastructure.

PwC’s analysis shows that companies applying AI widely to products, services and customer experiences achieved profit margins that are nearly 4 percentage points higher than those that did not.

External risk factors have also dented CEO confidence. About 20 per cent of the CEOs said their companies face high exposure to the risks of financial losses from tariffs in 2026.

This exposure varies widely by region – from 6 per cent across the Middle East to 28 per cent in China and 35 per cent in Mexico. Among US CEOs, 22 per cent reported high exposure to the risks of financial losses from tariffs.

Cyber concerns have risen sharply, with 31 per cent of CEOs now citing it as a major threat. This is up from 24 per cent in the 2025 survey. More than 80 per cent plan to bolster cyber defences as part of their response to geopolitical risk.

Concerns about macroeconomic volatility, technology disruption and geopolitics have also edged higher, while those about inflation are marginally down to 25 per cent compared with 27 per cent in the previous survey.

Despite these challenges, many CEOs remain focused on reinvention for growth. More than 40 per cent of the CEOs said their firms have entered new sectors in the past five years, and over 50 per cent plan to invest internationally in 2026.

Global CEOs picked technology as the top sector for growth. 

In turn, technology CEOs are seeking to grow in healthcare, business services, and banking and capital markets. This is reflected in the 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, the report said.

In terms of destinations, the US remains the top market, with 35 per cent ranking it among their top three choices. Singapore is in the top 10 list, alongside the UK, Germany and China.

Interest in India has nearly doubled from 2025, with 13 per cent of CEOs who are planning international investment placing it among their top three destinations.

The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia break into the top 10 markets, with strong representation from CEOs in consumer packaged goods, banking and capital markets, health services, technology, and engineering and construction.

In the light of the various concerns, 32 per cent of CEOs said geopolitical uncertainty is making them less likely to make large new investments.

But Mr Kande noted that these cautious companies are growing more slowly – by 2 percentage points – than their more dynamic peers. They also have profit margins that are 3 percentage points lower.