The CEOs of Wells Fargo and Pfizer warn that without innovation, the U.S. could lose out to China

Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, Charlie Scharf, CEO of Wells Fargo & Company, and Kathy Warden, Chairman and CEO of Northrop Grumman, speak during the Invest in America Forum on October 15, 2025.

Aaron Clamagage | CNBC

Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla warned on Wednesday of a potential U.S. competitive advantage over China, but said artificial intelligence could help America maintain its edge.

Speaking at CNBC’s first Invest in America Forum in Washington, DC, the two executives said that while the US is still a leader in many sectors, it is ceding its inconsistent policies and lack of investment to China. AI, they said, poses both risks and benefits to the U.S. economy.

Scharf said AI will likely reduce the size of the workforce – but increase productivity.

“We’ll probably have fewer people, definitely,” Scharf said. “If we look at the tools we’ve implemented just for programmers, we’re seeing a 20%, 30%, 40% improvement in programmers. We haven’t reduced our headcount by 20%, 30%, or 40%. We’re actually doing more than we could have done otherwise.”

Wells Fargo’s major bank counterparts, such as JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, are already hiring fewer people due to AI advances.

Scharf also said that the financial sector is facing major regulatory changes despite the ongoing political stalemate in Washington.

“Ultimately, we expect significant changes to capital requirements and liquidity requirements,” he said. “We expect changes that will enable people in the industry, not just large banks and mid-sized banks, but also smaller banks, to do more in these areas.” [local] communities.”

Bourla, meanwhile, expressed concern about China’s growing strength in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, citing a rise in research and development spending, regulatory reforms and a national strategy focused on life sciences.

“She [China] “This year we filed more patents than in the U.S.,” Bourla said. “This has never happened before in history.” Five years ago the split was 90-10%. … The gap is closing, but it probably will [better than us] unless we get our act together.

Bourla called on the US to shift focus from trying to slow China’s progress to improving its own productivity and innovation.

“We spend more time thinking about how to slow China than we do thinking about how we can be better than them,” Bourla said. “We need regulatory changes here. We need stability. Tariffs and prices haven’t helped.”

Pfizer recently agreed to a drug pricing agreement with the Trump administration as part of a broader effort to resolve long-standing uncertainties surrounding pricing, Medicaid reimbursements and distribution. As part of the deal, Pfizer secured a three-year exemption from pharmaceutical-specific tariffs, contingent on additional investment in U.S. manufacturing.

““Tariffs and the uncertainty of a drastic correction in US prices – with this deal we remove both uncertainties,” Bourla said on Wednesday.

He also called artificial intelligence the next frontier for medicine and predicted that AI will revolutionize drug discovery by dramatically shortening timelines for finding treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer’s and cancer.

“We’ve been trying to find cures for years…AI will make it possible,” Bourla said.