The Morning Download: Lockheed Martin CIO Says AI Is Remaking Her Role

Here's what's up for Jan. 16, 2026.

• AI's impact on Lockheed Martin's business
• TSMC's Big Spending Plans
• Trump Pushes BYOP ('Bring Your Own Power')

Good morning. Lockheed Martin’s Maria Demaree told me that AI is having an impact on almost every dimension of the military contractor's business, including her own role as CIO.

The mission drives the technology. Being CIO used to be about providing tools and technology to all corners of the business, hopefully making them more productive. Now it’s about working with business units, sometimes helping to define their missions, and providing the technology to support those efforts, Demaree said.

The structural changes in the business are accelerating because AI technology itself is maturing. “It’s getting to the point now where it’s actually usable and reliable,” she said. “We can put it in the hands of our employees.”

AI’s nuts and bolts impact. Lockheed Martin produces complex systems such as the F-35 fighter jet used in the deposition of Nicolás Maduro, the Thaad missile defense system, Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopters and the Orion deep space craft. Many parts, such as screws and batteries, are used in more than one system, but may go by different names and numbers depending upon where they are used. That lack of standardization can create inefficiency in the massive organization, which employed about 121,000 people at the beginning of 2025 and forecasts revenue of up to $74.75 billion for that year.

Demaree says AI is maturing. “It’s getting to the point now where it’s actually usable and reliable,” she said. “We can put it in the hands of our employees.”

It can’t afford the operational slack amid competitive pressures from emerging drone manufacturers or traditional rivals such as Boeing, which last year won the contract to build the Pentagon’s next-generation jet fighter.

So Lockheed is using AI models to identify parts by analyzing attributes such as their weight, material and voltage, rather than reading labels.

The model requires human input, but once trained, the AI can categorize parts at a speed and scale that human workers could never match, Demaree said. That allows the corporation to consolidate orders to negotiate better pricing, share spare parts across divisions during shortages and accelerate projects, she said.

“As CIO, I need to lead AI adoption internally, while also ensuring we have ethical and risk management considerations addressed … not only providing the capability, but the vision for how it can be used.”

Note to readers: The Morning Download won’t be published Monday in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We will be back Tuesday with highlights from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest contract chip maker, plans to spend a record $56 billion this year —up 27% to 37% from last year—to feed the world’s insatiable appetite for chips, WSJ reports.

“When you’ve got a business like TSMC spending at this level, investors should be prepared for sustained AI demand rather than a short-lived boom,” Zavier Wong, market analyst at eToro, tells the Journal. 

Some of TSMC's spending includes adding several new factories to its cluster in Arizona. In exchange, the U.S. is cutting tariffs on Taiwanese goods to 15%, from 20%, and exempting Taiwanese chip companies like TSMC that are investing more in America.