A recent KPMG study of CEOs of large companies, including 400 US companies, found that supply-chain cost reduction and AI integration and upskilling are top priorities of CEOs. How are companies addressing these challenges? 

By Patricia Van Arnum, Editorial Director, DCAT, [email protected]

US CEO perspectives
US CEOs are confident in their AI progress and the strength of the US economy, but cybersecurity and geopolitical risks are intensifying while inflation pressures persist, according to a new study by KPMG LLP, the US audit, tax and advisory firm. The study, the 2026 KPMG US CEO Outlook, features insights from 400 CEOs in the United States on the key challenges and opportunities in driving business growth. All US respondents have annual company revenues over $500 million, and more than one-third of the companies surveyed have more than $10 billion in annual revenue. Key findings from US-based CEOs are outlined below.

US CEOs: views on the supply chain and growth prospects
One key finding from the KPMG study is that US CEOs see regionalization becoming more important than cost as geopolitics is impacting supply-chain strategy. In light of geopolitical events in 2026, 78% of US CEOs said regionalization (nearshoring/friend-shoring) has become more important than cost optimization in supply-chain decisions. Moreover, 79% of CEOs anticipate geopolitical conflicts and tensions will impact their organization’s prosperity over the next three years.

Reflecting concerns over geopolitical uncertainty, 39% of US CEOs report that their top strategy to improve supply-chain resilience over the next 12 months is prioritizing the improvement of end-to-end visibility through data, AI, or other digital tools. To illustrate the importance of digitalization, 71% of US CEOs predict the major business disruption risk for their organizations over the next three years will stem from a lack of reliable AI access and advancement, not from cybersecurity incidents or supply-chain breakdowns.

These concerns arise despite a fairly confident view by CEOs of US economic growth, industry growth, and company growth. The study found that over the next three years, US CEOs are confident in their company’s growth (84% reported as such), growth in their industry (82%), and US economic growth (79%). Despite confidence in US economic growth, however, 78% of US CEOs continue to report that inflationary pressures will impact their organization’s prosperity over the next three years, which is further compounded by global economic uncertainty. The study found that only 64% of US CEOs are confident in the growth prospects of the global economy.

AI: CEO perspectives
AI plays an important consideration in the strategies of US CEOs, who say that they are continuing to increase AI investment as they seek to improve return on investment (ROI) for AI and reposition their workforces in AI. However, the study found that the most important issue, transforming their business with AI, remains.

“CEOs are leading with conviction and a heightened sense of urgency to accelerate change within their organizations,” said Tim Walsh, KPMG US Chair and CEO, in an October 15, 2026, statement in commenting on the study. “Leaders want to move faster, especially on AI, but their operating models, cyber defenses, workforce, and governance are tasked with keeping pace with the technology’s evolution. They must build the governance and infrastructure that sets them up to win higher stakes under higher pressure.”

The study found that 84% of US CEOs report that AI is a top investment priority over the next three years despite ongoing economic uncertainty, with 65% reporting they will spend at least 10% of their capital budgets on AI in the next year.

In addressing strategies behind AI, the study found that four out of five US CEOs report they have a clear view on how AI will disrupt current business models and strategy and create new opportunities and believe that their data readiness and quality will facilitate integrating AI into their business. When it comes to AI and data sovereignty shaping their organization’s AI strategy, 69% of CEOs said that they are increasing their focus on internal data governance and control.

“The focus on AI innovation has shifted from efficiency gains to how these investments will shape their business models, workforce, and growth,” said KPMG’s Walsh in commenting on the study. “With new technologies comes a healthy dose of risk management. AI and cyber strategies have become inseparable.”

When it comes to their organization’s ability to keep pace with the speed of AI development and its impact on business operations, workflows, and the workforce, 64% of CEOs are confident they are moving at the right pace or ahead of the curve, 32% are cautiously optimistic while 4% are concerned and struggling to pace.

In terms of AI’s impact to their organization, the study showed that only 9% of CEO respondents report that AI agents are transformational for their organization. Thirty-nine percent report significant improvements in efficiency or growth with AI agents while 43% report moderate impacts with targeted use cases, according to the KPMG study.

Risk factor: cybersecurity
Cybersecurity is a concern for US CEOs overall and for AI specifically. The KPMG study found that 85% of CEOs anticipate cybercrime and cyber insecurity will impact their organization’s prosperity over the next three years, an issue of higher consideration than inflationary pressures, geopolitical concerns, the pace of technology change, and other risks. Forty-eight percent of CEOs report they are increasing investment in cybersecurity over the next three years to mitigate business risks.

With respect to AI specifically, 56% of CEOs name cybersecurity as a challenge when implementing AI within their organization, more often than ethical challenges, data readiness, managing costs, and translating AI investment into a desired ROI.

AI ROI and costs
With respect to gaining a desired ROI on AI investments, CEOs are seeing and expecting ROI from AI investments. Fourteen percent of CEOs expect short-term gains from AI, with returns in six months to one year. The majority of CEOs (68%) expect to see returns in one to three years, and only 13% predict returns in three to five years, according to the KPMG study.

With respect to costs and margins on AI, one out of two CEOs report that managing costs of implementing AI are either mostly or very challenging. In this context, 81% of CEOs believe that the rising cost of AI will fundamentally reshape corporate margins more than labor costs over the next five years.

AI and the workforce
With respect to the workforce overall, CEOs report they expect to increase, not decrease, headcount in the coming years with 89% expecting to increase their headcount over the next three years. Sixty percent expect to increase headcount less than 5%, and 26% expect to increase headcount between 6-10%, and 2% expect to increase it between 11-25%.

The introduction of AI is creating workforce challenges. The study found that 60% of CEOs reported that skills gaps are the largest workforce challenge that their organization is facing, followed by upskilling and training employees on AI systems (55%), and attracting and retaining talent (49%). Additionally, 81% of CEOs say the integration of AI has made their organizations rethink how they train and develop their employees while 75% say the integration of AI has made them rethink the skills required for entry-level roles.

When asked about how their long-term workforce strategies (2-5 years) are changing in response to AI, CEOs reported varied ways in which AI is expected to have an impact. Eighty-six percent of CEOs said that AI will factor into their long-term workforce strategy by redesigning roles, career paths, and team structure to reflect human–AI collaboration. Eighty-three percent said that AI will create a greater focus on retaining and re-training high-potential talent, and 79% of CEOs said that they will hire new talent with AI and technology capabilities. A little more than half (53%) said that AI would result in planning for workforce reduction in some areas.