MORE ORGANISATIONS REVIEWING SUPPLY CHAINS AND BUSINESS STRATEGY
Return of Trump and DeepSeek AI app have raised the stakes for geopolitical risk
More organisations are reviewing their supply chains and their business strategy compared to nine months ago to prepare for geopolitical risks, according to an Airmic Big Question survey of Airmic members this week.
The return of Donald Trump to the US presidency, and the meteoric rise of China’s DeepSeek artificial intelligence (AI) app – all taking place within just this month – have raised the stakes for geopolitical rivalry between the two superpowers, with ramifications for organisations and businesses. The DeepSeek AI app, allegedly developed at a fraction of the cost of its competitors, surpassed OpenAI’s ChatGPT in terms of downloads in the US yesterday. Technology firms have suffered their biggest drop in US stock market history.
Julia Graham, CEO of Airmic, said: “The developments around DeepSeek once again highlight the interconnected nature of geopolitical risk, where the launch of an AI app has wreaked stock market turmoil in the US and has become top-of-mind for the new US administration. Scenario planning and horizon scanning are the keys for risk professionals and their organisations to prepare for geopolitical risk. They must resist the temptation to be events-led and retain agility for when crises may strike.”
The latest developments indicate that US sanctions on China to limit its ability to produce advanced semiconductors cutting-edge chips have been upended. US President Donald Trump called the rise of DeepSeek “a wake-up call for our industries that we need to be laser-focused on competing to win.”
Hoe-Yeong Loke, Head of Research at Airmic, said: “The developments around the DeepSeek app could spark ever more aggressive trade sanctions and barriers from the Trump administration on China. Risk professionals and their organisations need to prepare for a series of retaliatory tariffs not unlike the trade war between China and the US during the first Trump administration.”
Respondents to the Airmic Big Question survey also said they are continuing to monitor the impacts on the UK economy, including potential supplier risk rising from geopolitical risks, to ensure a deeper understating of the dynamic global landscape.
Leigh-Anne Slade, Head of Media, Communications and Interest Groups, said: “Besides the latest geopolitical developments, regulatory governance frameworks such as the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) mean Airmic members need full visibility of their organisation’s supply chains. This will support their organisation’s planning for strategy and risk mitigation, by identifying areas of high dependency and risk.”
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We will be sharing the results of the Airmic Big Question with the press weekly.
You can also find the results here.
Media contact: Leigh Anne Slade
Head of Media, Communications and Interest Groups, Airmic
Leigh-Anne.Slade@Airmic.com
07956 41 78 77