- Asia Pacific firms move rapidly from AI experimentation to real-world deployment across business operations
- Indian companies lead the region with highest AI budget growth at 19% year-on-year
- Hybrid AI infrastructure, generative AI and workforce training emerge as top priorities
- Agentic AI interest surges as enterprises prepare for next wave of intelligent automation
- CIOs focus on revenue growth, profitability and customer experience through AI-driven transformation
NE BUSINESS BUREAU
BENGALURU, MAR 7
Enterprises across the Asia Pacific region are rapidly shifting from AI experimentation to large-scale execution, with 96% of organisations planning to increase their artificial intelligence investments over the next 12 months, according to the 4th edition of the Lenovo CIO Playbook 2026 – The Race for Enterprise AI, commissioned by Lenovo with insights from IDC.
The report reveals that organisations expect AI spending to grow by an average of 15%, covering investments in Generative AI, Agentic AI, public cloud AI services, on-premises AI infrastructure and AI security tools.
India is emerging as the fastest-growing AI investment hub in Asia Pacific, with 99% of organisations planning to increase AI investments over the next year and recording the highest year-on-year AI budget growth in the region at 19%.
These investments are primarily focused on AI infrastructure deployment, workforce training—including non-IT employees—and generative AI development and applications. Enterprises are also prioritising AI-enabled devices and security frameworks focused on trust and transparency, signalling the growing role of AI as a core driver of enterprise efficiency, resilience and growth.
“When **96% of organizations across AP are planning a 15% on average increase in AI investment, it tells us that AI decisions are now being made at the core of enterprise strategy,” said Sumir Bhatia, President, Asia Pacific, ISG, Lenovo.
“The differentiator will be how effectively organizations integrate AI, embedding it into infrastructure, operations, and security so value compounds over time.”
From ROI Validation to Outcomes-Led AI
Building on last year’s AI-nomics focus on validating business returns, the 2026 CIO Playbook highlights a clear shift towards outcomes-led AI adoption.
While CIOs remain confident about AI’s economic value, organisations are applying greater discipline and governance to ensure measurable business impact.
According to the report, 88% of Asia Pacific organisations expect a positive return on AI investments in 2026, with an average anticipated return of 2.8x—approximately US$2.85 for every US$1 invested.
However, scaling AI initiatives beyond pilot projects continues to be a challenge, underscoring the need for robust governance frameworks, operational models and lifecycle management strategies.
AI Adoption Moves Beyond IT Departments
AI adoption across Asia Pacific is expanding rapidly and is no longer limited to IT teams.
The report finds that:
- 66% of organisations are already piloting or systematically adopting AI
- 15% remain in early adoption stages
- 19% are still evaluating AI implementation
In India, 59% of organisations are already piloting or systematically adopting AI, while 19% are in early stages and 23% are actively considering adoption, indicating a strong pipeline for future deployment.
AI is increasingly being used in customer service, marketing, operations, finance and industry-specific business functions, reshaping how enterprises compete and operate.
Notably, half of surveyed organisations report that non-IT departments are now funding AI initiatives, elevating the CIO’s role into that of a strategic enterprise-wide AI orchestrator.
Agentic AI Gains Momentum
The report also highlights rising interest in Agentic AI, an emerging technology capable of executing autonomous tasks and decision-making workflows.
Currently:
- 21% of Asia Pacific organisations report significant Agentic AI usage
- 59% are exploring or planning limited deployments
The strongest adoption interest is seen in telecommunications, healthcare and government sectors, where operational complexity and large-scale data management are common.
Despite growing enthusiasm, readiness levels remain uneven. Only 10% of organisations consider themselves ready for large-scale Agentic AI implementation, while 41% expect it will take more than a year to scale deployments due to challenges such as security, governance, data quality and system integration.
“Agentic AI represents a fundamental shift in how intelligence is embedded into the enterprise,” said Fan Ho, Executive Director and General Manager, Asia Pacific, Solutions & Services Group, Lenovo.
“With nearly 60% of organizations already exploring Agentic AI and the majority are choosing a measured path to scale, it reflects that enterprises want AI that operates within core workflows, meets security and governance expectations, and delivers consistent outcomes.”
Hybrid AI Becomes the Default Enterprise Model
As AI workloads expand, infrastructure strategy is becoming a critical CIO decision.
The Playbook notes that 86% of organisations across Asia Pacific now incorporate on-premises or edge environments within hybrid AI architectures, making hybrid AI the default model for enterprise deployments.
In India, 90% of organisations prefer hybrid AI architectures, combining on-premise infrastructure with edge computing to balance performance, security and regulatory compliance.
Key factors driving this approach include:
- Data privacy and compliance requirements
- Rising public cloud costs
- The need to support distributed operations and real-time data processing
“India’s AI journey reflects a builder mindset. As 59% of organizations move into active adoption and budgets grow at the fastest pace in the region, enterprises are prioritizing infrastructure and workforce readiness to industrialize AI responsibly and at scale,” said Shailendra Katyal, Vice President and Managing Director, Lenovo India.
“With nearly $3 in expected return for every dollar invested, AI is evolving from pilot programs to core business infrastructure.”
CIO Priorities for 2026
The Lenovo CIO Playbook identifies three key strategic priorities shaping enterprise AI adoption in 2026:
AI inferencing becomes the value engine:
Over an AI model’s lifecycle, inferencing costs can be up to 15 times higher than training, and by 2030 nearly 75% of AI compute will be dedicated to inferencing, with 80% of enterprises relying on distributed edge infrastructure.
Employee productivity rises as a strategic priority:
AI-enabled devices and AI PCs with on-device agents are rapidly gaining adoption, with 50% of enterprise PC purchases expected to shift to AI-capable systems.
Scaling AI remains the biggest hurdle:
Although 88% of organisations expect positive ROI, only around half of AI proof-of-concept projects reach production, making scaling—not ambition—the critical gap for enterprises.
