Revenue and headcount are no longer moving in step at CI&T, the Brazilian IT services major, as AI agents take over coding tasks, and the company expects revenue to outpace hiring for at least the next year.
Its early bets on AI skilling and agentic implementation seem to be paying off as the New York Stock Exchange-listed firm heads into its eighth straight double-digit growth quarter.
While the growth is real, the market seems skeptical, with the stock declining 27.31% year-to-date. But Founder and CEO Cesar Gon seems to be optimizing for a different game. Contrary to popular belief, he thinks it's the moment of glory for fresh, AI-native talent, not seniors, and believes gross margin, not EBITDA, is the key metric of transformation.
Notably, about 60% of CI&Tโs revenue comes from markets outside Brazil, including the U.S., Europe and Asia, while the domestic market accounts for the remaining 40%.
Gon also sees a leapfrog opportunity for Latin America in outsourcing as AI drives massive demand for legacy modernization and data. LatAm, he says, is a strong second source of talent after India, but in a more favorable time zone.
Despite claiming an edge in AI, Gon acknowledges the industry is changing fast, without warning for those who fail to adapt, and that big consolidation is in the offing as AI makes skills and expertise redundant.
In an exclusive conversation with Nearshore Americas, the CI&T CEO talks about how the company is repricing contracts, why the regional growth gap and mispriced stock are temporary, and why his company is better equipped to deal with challenges and opportunities that AI presents in 2027.