The Post Globalized
Supply Chain Era

The Post Globalized Supply Chain Era
‍A fundamental shift is underway. The supply chains, trade agreements, procurement systems, and technologies that served us well in the globalized era are struggling to meet the demands of what's emerging: a post-globalized supply chain landscape governed by entirely different rules.Where the old playbook prioritized cost reduction, the new rules are: resilience, control, and sustainability.Companies that fail to adapt will find themselves vulnerable to risks they can't even see.‍

Rule #1:
Resilience Over Cost Reduction

‍The old supply chain playbook was straightforward: find the lowest cost, wherever that may be. Today, it's about diversifying risk.The numbers do the talking here. According to Prologis, 77% of supply chain leaders are actively regionalizing their supplier networks. This isn't just press release talk—it's a strategic shift reflected in major investment decisions.Consider Apple's choice to secure rare-earth magnets from domestic sources inside the U.S. rather than remain fully reliant on lower-cost suppliers in China. A decade ago, this decision would have been unthinkable for a company built on supply chain efficiency. Today, Apple is willing to pay a premium for resilience—and they're not alone.The pandemic exposed the fragility of just-in-time global networks. Now, procurement leaders are being asked to optimize for something much more complex than cost: the ability to withstand disruption.

Rule #2:
Control in the Age of
Weaponized Supply Chains

‍Supply chains were once invisible cost centers. Today, they're geopolitical power levers.China's export controls on rare earth metals served as a wake-up call. With control over 90% of processed rare earths—materials essential to manufacturing everything from smartphones to electric vehicles to defense systems—China demonstrated that supply chain dominance can be leveraged for geopolitical gain. This control has been used as leverage in trade talks and can continue to be deployed given the years required to stand up alternative smelting capacity.

‍The Venezuela Factor
‍The geopolitical landscape just became even more volatile. The United States' military intervention in Venezuela—capturing President Maduro and asserting temporary control over the country—has escalated tensions with China and heightened concerns about Taiwan. China, which has invested $4.8 billion in Venezuela over two decades, strongly condemned the action for obvious commercial and geopolitical reasons, sparking intense debate in Beijing about whether this sets a precedent for potential military action regarding Taiwan.

While many analysts believe China won't fundamentally alter its Taiwan strategy based on Venezuela, the episode underscores the growing unpredictability in U.S.-China relations at precisely the moment when global supply chains remain deeply dependent on Taiwan for critical components—particularly semiconductors that power everything from smartphones to AI systems to military equipment. Any escalation in Taiwan Strait tensions could create massive disruptions for companies with semiconductor dependencies they can't even map today. Check out China’s new Transformers-like water bridge ships for context.The defense supply chain exposure runs even deeper. Chinese firms make up approximately 9.3% of all Tier 1 subcontractors to defense primes. That percentage grows exponentially as supply chains extend into deeper tiers, where visibility becomes scarce and risk compounds.The message is clear: supply chains are no longer apolitical. They're strategic assets that can be weaponized, creating vulnerabilities that extend far beyond traditional business risk.

Rule #3:
Sustainability as
Structural Imperative

‍Viewing ESG as a political football was last year's trope, equivalent to a dad in fifties waving his hands saying 6 7. In the post-globalized era, sustainability is structural to supply chain design and management—and the reason is simple: energy.

‍The Data Center Energy Crisis
‍The explosion of AI and cloud computing has created an unprecedented energy crunch. Data centers consumed 4.4% of total U.S. electricity in 2023 and are projected to consume between 6.7% and 12% by 2028—potentially doubling or tripling demand in just five years. Goldman Sachs estimates data center power demand will surge 165% by 2030, requiring approximately $720 billion in grid infrastructure spending.Its getting personal too. Residential electricity bills are already rising to subsidize data center infrastructure. In western Maryland, average monthly bills have jumped $18 due to data center demand. In Virginia, data centers now consume 26% of the state's total electricity supply.Tech companies are ‘scrambling’ for solutions—reviving retired nuclear plants, signing billion-dollar renewable energy contracts, and building on-site generation to bypass constrained grids. When hyperscalers are paying premium prices for reliable power and racing to lock in long-term energy contracts, every other part of their operations comes under scrutiny for potential energy savings.

‍Supply Chains: The Next Frontier for Energy Optimization
‍This is where supply chain sustainability shifts from compliance checkbox to competitive necessity. According to recent surveys, 83% of supply chain leaders believe energy reliability will be the next major supply chain crisis. With AI and geopolitical tensions straining energy infrastructure, companies are hunting for efficiency gains everywhere—and 80% of corporate emissions are embedded in supply chains. Governments with reliable energy infrastructure and transparent energy policies are becoming more attractive regions for operations. China understands this connection intimately. Xi Jinping's announcement at the UN General Assembly that China will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 7-10% by 2035 is a strategic play: controlling emissions means controlling supply chain architecture in an energy-constrained world.Sustainability is no longer about values or public relations. It's about energy security, operational resilience, and competitive positioning when power costs are exploding and grid capacity is constrained. 

‍Your Visibility Is Your Vulnerability
‍So if resilience, control, and sustainability define the post-globalized supply chain era, then we face a harsh reality: our current supply chains and the technologies managing them are dangerously unprepared.Why? Supply chain visibility.McKinsey research reveals that only 2% of companies have visibility beyond their second-tier suppliers. Deep, n-tier visibility remains extremely rare. This means the risks we've discussed—geopolitical exposure, energy vulnerability, concentration risk—are completely invisible to most organizations using traditional vendor onboarding systems.And on top of all that, 70% of organizations now have AI implementations in their supply chains, all of whom have developed their own keynote style self-talk language about how we just need to ‘wait a little longer for ROI on these investments’. But AI ROI is entirely dependent on data quality and completeness. And without deep visibility of supply chain data, AI systems are making decisions based on incomplete information about the very risks that could bring operations to a halt.

‍The Way Forward Is Through
‍The post-globalized supply chain era isn't coming—it's here. The question isn't whether to adapt, but how quickly you can build the capabilities to compete in this new landscape.Supply chain transparency isn't a nice-to-have feature. It's the foundational capability that makes resilience possible, that reveals control vulnerabilities before they become crises, and that enables the sustainability strategies investors and regulators now demand.For procurement and supply chain leaders, the message is simple: pay attention to the requests coming in for supply chain risk and visibility technology. The playbook has changed. The technologies and strategies that worked in 2015 won't protect you in 2025.The companies that thrive in the post-globalized era will be those that can see their supply chains clearly—all the way down to the deepest tiers—and make decisions based on complete information about risk, resilience, and sustainability.The dots are connecting. The question is: can you see them?

Your Visibility Is
Your Vulnerability

‍So if resilience, control, and sustainability define the post-globalized supply chain era, then we face a harsh reality: our current supply chains and the technologies managing them are dangerously unprepared.

Why? Supply chain visibility
McKinsey research reveals that only 2% of companies have visibility beyond their second-tier suppliers. Deep, n-tier visibility remains extremely rare. This means the risks we've discussed—geopolitical exposure, energy vulnerability, concentration risk—are completely invisible to most organizations using traditional vendor onboarding systems.And on top of all that, 70% of organizations now have AI implementations in their supply chains, all of whom have developed their own keynote style self-talk language about how we just need to ‘wait a little longer for ROI on these investments’. But AI ROI is entirely dependent on data quality and completeness. And without deep visibility of supply chain data, AI systems are making decisions based on incomplete information about the very risks that could bring operations to a halt.

The Way Forward
Is Through

‍‍‍The post-globalized supply chain era isn't coming—it's here. The question isn't whether to adapt, but how quickly you can build the capabilities to compete in this new landscape.Supply chain transparency isn't a nice-to-have feature. It's the foundational capability that makes resilience possible, that reveals control vulnerabilities before they become crises, and that enables the sustainability strategies investors and regulators now demand.For procurement and supply chain leaders, the message is simple: pay attention to the requests coming in for supply chain risk and visibility technology.

The playbook has changed.
The technologies and strategies that worked in 2015 won't protect you in 2025.

The companies that thrive in the post-globalized era will be those that can see their supply chains clearly—all the way down to the deepest tiers—and make decisions based on complete information about risk, resilience, and sustainability. The dots are connecting. The question is: can you see them?