This Week's Top Five Stories in Procurement

Rio Tinto and AWS: Redesigning Mine-to-Market Value Chains

Rio Tinto's strategic collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) highlights sustainable sourcing of critical materials, supply chain resilience for data centres and the use of advanced analytics to redesign mine-to-market value chains.

It also exemplifies how large buyers like AWS are using demand signals and long-term offtake to shape lower-carbon upstream supply options.

The partnership will see AWS become Nuton Technology's first customer following the breakthrough industrial-scale deployment of the innovative bioleaching technology at the Johnson Camp copper mine in the US last month.

This two-year agreement means AWS will become the first to use the Nuton copper produced in components of its US data centres, while also providing cloud-based data and analytics support to accelerate the optimisation of Nuton's proprietary bioleaching technology at Gunnison Copper's Johnson Camp mine.

The Procurement Interview: Etosha Thurman, SAP

Confidence in AI is high – with The Economist Impact study finding that nearly nine out of ten procurement professionals have faith in its potential.

However, a significant gap persists between optimism and execution. For many organisations, the challenge lies not in believing AI can transform procurement, but in building the strategic foundations to make that transformation real.

Etosha Thurman, Chief Marketing Officer for Finance & Spend Management at SAP, argues that confidence alone is not enough. What is missing, she explains, is the infrastructure to move from isolated pilots to enterprise-wide impact.

How KPMG is Building AI Agents for Industries with Uniphore

KPMG LLP has entered a strategic relationship with Uniphore in a move to operationalise AI agents across workflows.

Through the partnership, both companies will see a more integrated AI system and an increase in efficiency across its procurement processes.

Clients across a range of industries will be able to see an opportunity for business growth following the delivery of these AI agents.

WEF: CEO Lessons for the Future of Food Procurement

Global food supply chains are being placed under pressure due to geopolitical shifts, population growth, ongoing climate change and natural impacts.

With businesses facing mounting pressure to adapt, the World Economic Forum (WEF) offers a guiding hand.

Together with Bain & Company, WEF's published report offers a vision for how CEOs need to address the sustainability needs and safeguard the future of food supply chains. 

ProcureAbility: What are the Strategic Priorities for CPOs?

A report from ProcureAbility has highlighted the continuous evolution of procurement roles, goals and priorities for CPOs, as well as the biggest challenges.

ProcureAbility, part of the Jabil group, has published its 2026 report, which provides readers the data and an insight into the role of a Chief Procurement Officer and the teams they are leading. With the survey responses coming from selected senior procurement leaders from a range of industries.

It works as a checkpoint for the function, looking at where procurement has been, and where it is heading next – by examining the evolution of the function, its goals and priorities. With this year's edition findings highlighting strategic priorities for CPOs in 2026, what they believe the biggest challenges will be over the next 12 months.

It also highlights the biggest barriers to AI readiness.