Global CEOs name AI top technology for profitability and competitiveness

A new global survey commissioned by NTT and conducted by WSJ Intelligence highlights the perspectives of CEOs on technology investments and the challenges of balancing innovation with ethical, environmental and operational considerations. The survey reveals that 89% of global CEOs rank AI as the most critical technology for ensuring future profitability and competitiveness, with 77% planning to increase AI budgets in 2025.

The survey polled 351 global CEOs, representing U.S. companies with annual revenues exceeding $1 billion and non-U.S. companies with revenues of $500 million or more. The findings are presented in a whitepaper, “Future-Ready Innovation: Strategies for 2025 and Beyond,” which explores these trends in detail.

“NTT and WSJ Intelligence collaborated on this survey to examine how business leaders are prioritizing technology investments while balancing ethics and social responsibility in this exciting time of exponential technological growth,” said Vito Mabrucco, Global Chief Marketing Officer at NTT. “These results make it clear that AI is poised to receive increased investment commensurate with its outstanding potential. However, further conversations and global cooperation among business leaders, regulators, developers and the public are needed to realize an AI-empowered future that ethically and sustainably benefits all.”

AI Leads Enterprise Technology Deployment and Investment Priorities

When asked to select the three technologies most important to their organization’s future success, 44% of respondents named generative AI—22% selected AI-augmented software development and another 22% highlighted governance and democratized AI. IoT ranked second at 25%, with industry cloud computing close behind at 23%.

Aligning with these expectations, about 70% of respondents anticipate net increases in their technology investments in 2025. Among them, 48% predict an increase of 1-10% in generative AI investments, and 29% expect an increase of more than 10%.

CEOs Call for AI Governance and Responsibility

87% of CEOs identified an “urgent” need for AI governance and risk management frameworks, highlighting three key areas of concern: threats to data privacy and security; abiding by regulatory compliance; and the impact of AI on environmental sustainability and energy consumption.

Data Privacy and Security: 87% of respondents believe companies must establish more robust safeguards for the data that feeds their AI models. Additionally, 70% of CEOs who consider AI a “crucial” technology in their firm named data privacy as a top concern, while 38% in that category listed cybersecurity risks as a top concern.

Compliance: 33% of CEOs listed compliance as a key challenge, with that figure rising to 46% among U.S.-based respondents.

Environment and Energy: 85% of all respondents expressed both enthusiasm for AI and concerns about its growing energy consumption.

Learn more about NTT’s AI Charter here: Artificial Intelligence - NTT

Overwhelming Interest in Advanced Infrastructure

New information technology infrastructure is needed to meet growing data and energy demands compounded by AI. One example is NTT’s IOWN initiative, which facilitates the transition from electronics to photonics for networks and computing. The light-based infrastructure is designed to achieve three key performance targets: up to 100x less power consumption, a 125x increase in transmission capacity and a 200x reduction in end-to-end delays compared to conventional infrastructure.

The survey revealed that 90% of CEOs are familiar with photonics networks, with 93% expressing interest in incorporating photonics into their operations.