Welcome to this week’s edition of CIOsurge!

This week:

• DRAM pricing could double by late 2026; pre-commit, add escalation clauses, and stage AI rollouts to smooth costs.

• As agentic AI scales, CIOs move squarely into value ownership—tie deployments to hard KPIs and formal CEO cadence.

• Cy Khormaee’s ‘Inbox Kill Chain’: blend front-door visibility, post-delivery rescans, and MFA/password hygiene to cut dwell time.

Let’s make this week a game-changer.

Stay sharp. Stay ahead.

💡 Guest Expert Insights: Cy Khormaee

📬 The Inbox Kill Chain

Drawing on years defending the web and now running AegisAI, Cy breaks down how modern email attacks blend into normal traffic, then exploit two moves: the lure and the action. Increasingly, the delivery channel itself is compromised, such as automated notification systems, vendor portals, or legitimate domains injected with bad content.

Rules and static reputation checks miss this because attackers borrow real reputation and mutate just enough to slip through. That is why you see “looks fine” messages triggering real losses.

Defenders need layered control: visibility at the front door, retrospective scanning after delivery, and hygiene like password managers and MFA to blunt inevitable misses. Assume compromise paths exist and shorten dwell time.

www.aegisai.ai 

💾 AI squeeze could double server DRAM by 2026

Counterpoint says DRAM is up ~50% YTD with another +30% in Q4 ’25 and +20% in early ’26; 64GB DDR5 RDIMMs could cost 2× by late ’26 as fabs pivot to AI parts and Nvidia’s LPDDR-heavy servers drain supply (Grace up to 960GB). Vendors have raised prices, with some capacity sold out through 2026, leaving most enterprises with limited leverage.

Don’t wait for the PO cycle—pre-commit. Lock calendar-dated price/volume bands with OEMs, stagger refreshes, and spec flexibility on RDIMM sizes. Model LPDDR-based platforms’ TCO and secure spares now; include memory escalation clauses in server deals and adjust budgets quarterly.

Harden ops: expand burn-in and scrubbing policies, monitor thermals/BER on LPDDR systems, and validate on-die ECC behavior. Build a dual-source plan (regional compliance permitting), consider DDR4 stopgaps for non-AI tiers, and stage AI rollouts to smooth cost spikes through 2026.

- Zack Tembi

Read the full story

🤝 CIOs’ stature rises as agentic AI scales

Salesforce says full AI implementation jumped from 11% (2024) to 42% (2025). 96% use or plan agentic AI within two years, with ~30% of AI budgets earmarked for it. Confidence is up (75%), and Deloitte reports 65% of CIOs now report to the CEO (41% a decade ago), underscoring the role’s growing enterprise impact.

This acceleration puts us squarely in the value-owner seat. Translate agentic AI into frontline outcomes—start with service ops—then publish hard KPIs (handling time, CSAT, deflection, revenue per interaction). Tie platform choices to identity, data contracts, audit, and rollback plans.

Org design matters as much as models: embed product, risk, and change management around AI squads; fund an enablement spine for prompt, policy, and telemetry hygiene; and formalize CEO-CIO cadence on quarterly ROI gates. Budget follows credibility—measure relentlessly and prune what doesn’t pay.

 - Zack Tembi

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🗞️ At A Glance

Cobalt 200: Microsoft’s next-gen Arm CPU targets lower TCO for cloud workloads

Agentic AI has big trust issues

Tech job postings are down one-third from pre-pandemic era

CISO pay is on the rise, even as security budgets tighten

SAP touts Microsoft disaster recovery plan for Europe; Analysts doubt it will work

Cloudflare coughs, half the internet catches a cold

Microsoft-SAP pact aims to keep Euro cloud running in a crisis

💡 CIO Spotlights

SmartRent appoints Sangeeth Ponathil as CIO to advance tech roadmap

• SmartRent named Sangeeth Ponathil CIO, tasking him with leading engineering, product, security, data and IT as the company scales its smart-home platform.

• Ponathil brings 25+ years of tech leadership, including major digital transformation work at loanDepot and YUM Brands.

• He’ll drive AI-powered insights, infrastructure modernization and enterprise-wide technology strategy.

  Read the full story

RaceTrac hires Ameet Shetty as its first CIO to accelerate tech overhaul

• RaceTrac appointed Ameet Shetty — former Pilot Company CIO and Equifax chief data officer — as its first-ever CIO.

• Shetty will lead enterprise tech vision, cybersecurity, data strategy, and AI adoption as RaceTrac scales its rapid transformation.

• His background in infrastructure modernization and analytics positions him to advance RaceTrac’s next phase of innovation.

  Read the full story

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