Finance
Baker CEO says 2025 resilience driven by AI growth, sees oil investment slowdown
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on October 24, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on October 24, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Baker Hughes CEO sees AI growth driving resilience through 2025, despite oil investment challenges and geopolitical headwinds.
By Arunima Kumar
(Reuters) -Baker Hughes CEO Lorenzo Simonelli said on Friday the global macro environment remains resilient through 2025, despite geopolitical and policy headwinds, supported by the rapid deployment of generative artificial intelligence driving power demand and industrial activity.
Simonelli said the company remains confident of reaching $1.5 billion in data center orders ahead of its original three-year target as it continues to see strong momentum in data center power demand.
He, however, said Baker Hughes' outlook for 2025 remains unchanged, with a high-single-digit decline in global upstream spending expected.
Simonelli cautioned that oversupply concerns in the oil market were weighing on sentiment, with some OPEC+ members still unable to meet production quotas. He said oil-related upstream investment is expected to stay subdued until the market absorbs the group's additional supply.
He said that early indicators suggest 2026 will be another year of subdued activity and spending declines before a gradual recovery takes hold, particularly in international and offshore markets.
(Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)
Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines programmed to think and learn. AI can perform tasks such as problem-solving, understanding language, and recognizing patterns.
Upstream spending refers to investments made in the exploration and production of oil and gas. This includes costs associated with drilling, extraction, and development of oil fields.
Market resilience refers to the ability of an economy or financial market to withstand shocks and recover from downturns. It indicates stability and the capacity to bounce back after adverse events.
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