PwC: 37% of APAC CEOs plan to expand beyond their core businesses as confidence softens

The findings come at a time when confidence in short-term growth has weakened across Asia Pacific, even as CEOs increasingly acknowledge that existing business models may no longer be sufficient to sustain long-term value. The survey is based on responses from 4,454 CEOs globally, including 1,766 from Asia Pacific.

CEOs in the region will target adjacent and fast-moving sectors, including technology, health services, assets and wealth management, transportation and logistics, retail and industrial manufacturing. Those who have already moved into new sectors are seeing tangible returns. Nearly two-thirds (61%) report that over 10% of their revenue in the past five years came from competing in new sectors.

Isla Lipana & Co./PwC Philippines Chairman and Senior Partner Roderick Danao noted that global megatrends—particularly technological disruptions, climate change, fracturing geopolitics, and eroding trust in institutions—have continued to spur exploration into new sectors and industries for growth.

“What consumers and stakeholders need and how they want those needs met are changing. The pattern is clear around the world. Boundaries between business sectors are blurring and, as a result, new domains of growth are emerging,” Danao explained.

“Companies that actively reinvent—by crossing sector boundaries and investing ahead of the curve—are more sustainable and more confident about their future. In today’s environment, waiting for certainty is often the riskiest strategy,” he added.

Ebbing confidence amid rising risk exposure

The need for reinvention becomes more pressing as short-term confidence has tempered. While 59% of Asia Pacific CEOs expect global economic conditions to improve over the next 12 months, confidence in their own short-term revenue growth has softened. The survey reports that only 21% now say they are very or extremely confident about revenue prospects for the year ahead, down from 34% in 2025 and below global peers (30%).

The ebbing confidence is underpinned by rising exposure across the risk landscape. Nearly four in ten CEOs (39%) say they feel highly or extremely exposed to cyber threats, making Asia Pacific the only region in the global survey where cyber clearly surpasses all other risks, including economic pressures such as inflation, macroeconomic volatility, and tariffs.

In parallel, the Philippine CEO Survey 2025, released in September last year, reports that over half (52%) of Philippine-based CEOs say their companies will not be economically viable beyond ten years if they continue their current paths. In the same survey, 84% of CEOs cited cyber risks as among the key threats facing their businesses.

Shorter horizon in priorities, capital allocation

PwC’s latest Global CEO Survey found that strategic priorities of nearly eight in ten (79%) Asia Pacific CEOs lie in the short- to medium-term horizon (zero to five years).

The shorter horizon shows up in capital allocation decisions. Only 28% plan to pursue at least one major acquisition over the next three years, a steep drop from 54% last year and currently well below global peers (41%). Additionally, 60% have no plans for international investments in the next 12 months, up from 44% last year.

PwC Philippines Deals and Corporate Finance Managing Partner Mary Jade Roxas-Divinagracia pointed out that the local merger and acquisition (M&A) climate reflects this pattern.

“What we’re seeing is that while CEOs clearly recognize the importance of long-term transformation, capital and attention are often held captive by short-range pressures. As a result, deal activity slowed in 2025, with investors deploying capital more selectively toward sectors with clearer growth and value-creation pathways,” Divinagracia said.

AI is delivering, but not uniformly

Asia Pacific CEOs are seeing value from AI, but results remain uneven. Nearly four in ten (39%) report that AI has driven additional revenues over the past 12 months, ahead of global peers (30%). Over a quarter (26%) are also seeing tangible cost reductions, and 15% report achieving both at the same time. By contrast, about half report little to no financial upside at all.

The survey also found organizations with stronger AI foundations are twice as likely to achieve both revenue growth and cost reduction from AI. However, only 26% of organizations report strong AI foundations across at least six of seven core areas, including culture, technology environment, strategy/AI roadmap, responsible AI, talent, investment, and data. These foundations increasingly differentiate organizations that can move beyond pilots and generate measurable business impact from AI.

In PwC Philippines’ AI Readiness Survey 2025, overall AI maturity of respondent organizations generally falls within the “emerging stage,” with an average readiness score of 3.2 out of 5 across six pillars, namely, strategy and roadmap, technology and infrastructure, data assets, governance and processes, team and talent, and modelling and operations. This suggests that while many Philippine organizations have begun their AI journey, scaling and institutionalization remain the key challenges.

The road to reinvention

Danao emphasized that the survey spotlights global sentiment among CEOs on whether business transformation is apace with technological shifts, whether change capability is adequate, and whether they are adapting fast enough to remain viable over the medium to long term.

“We live in a time of rapid changes, and these changes will happen whether we are onboard. CEOs must look to evolve with intent and agility and seize the momentum for new sources of growth as industry boundaries become more porous,” Danao said.