KPMG recently released its 2025 U.S. CEO Outlook. A critical section of the survey, which took place in September, explored the views of over 100 life sciences CEOs to assess their perspectives on critical topics such as AI investment, workforce strategy, and regulatory and supply chain challenges.
According to Kristin Pothier, KPMG U.S. life science leader, the key findings of the life sciences CEOs were as follows:
- AI investment: Despite economic uncertainty, CEOs are making AI a top investment priority, signaling a sharp increase from last year.
- Workforce readiness: CEOs surveyed understand that preparing their workforce through AI training and upskilling is critical to their organization’s success.
- Regulatory pressures and supply chain resilience: They also recognize that regulatory demands and supply chain resilience directly affect their organization’s success and are investing to reduce these risks.
“Despite a climate of uncertainty, life science leaders are decisively investing in AI to drive innovation and product development,” said Pothier. “Success requires a dual focus: upskilling the workforce and ethical AI adoption while rethinking supply chain resilience to deliver breakthrough therapies with confidence worldwide.”
Specific details regarding the life sciences CEO 2025 outlook are detailed below.
AI investment accelerates, with focus on workforce readiness and ethics
- 75% of life sciences CEOs say that, despite economic uncertainty, AI remains a top investment priority—up sharply from 60% in 2024.
- 76% believe their organizations are moving at the right pace to keep up with AI’s rapid development and its impact on operations, workflows, and the workforce.
- 73% expect to spend 10–20% of their total budget on AI initiatives over the next 12 months.
- 65% anticipate seeing ROI from AI implementation within 1–3 years.
- 85% cite AI workforce readiness or upskilling as a major factor shaping their organization’s prosperity over the next three years.
- 66% identify ethical issues as a major obstacle to AI adoption—up from 58% in 2024.
- 77% say their long-term workforce strategy (2–5 years) focuses on retaining and re-training high-potential talent to adapt to AI.
- 37% view AI in products and services as a critical capability over the next three years.
- 80% are investing significantly in agentic AI.
- 79% are allocating similar resources to AI in products and services and intelligent manufacturing.
Regulatory pressures and supply chain resilience—top ongoing concerns
- 74% of CEOs say regulatory demands will significantly impact their organization’s prosperity in the next three years.
- 40% are increasing investments in supply chain resilience and operational continuity.
- 34% are doing so for regulatory compliance and reporting.
- 25% cite supply chain resilience as a driver of short-term decisions.
- 20% point to regulatory pressures as a key short-term concern.
Additional insights
- 60% are extremely concerned about fraud detection and prevention, identifying it as a top leadership priority.
- 47% express similar concern over identity theft and data privacy.
- 41% describe their mergers and acquisitions appetite as high, expecting to undertake significant acquisitions within the next three years.
- 81% said they feel more pressure to ensure the long-term prosperity of their business.
