Asia-Pacific companies are quickly ramping up investments in generative AI and entering a higher stage of maturity, according to new research from the Infosys Knowledge Institute (IKI).
The research arm of Infosys, a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, reported that while APAC spending currently lagged that of North America, the adoption, effectiveness and growth were among the highest globally.
Forecasts revealed a 140% increase in total APAC GenAI spending in 2024 – a bigger rise than any other region. This translates to an estimated US$3.4 billion to be invested across Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, India, and Singapore.
China leads the region, with investment expected to grow by more than 160% to US$2.1 billion. But growth in Australia and New Zealand follows closely behind at 150%, representing a jump from US$60 million to US$151 million in 2024. This puts ANZ spending growth among the highest globally.
Infosys APAC Executive Vice President Andrew Groth said GenAI was clearly a transformative technology.
“Although company leaders across APAC have been more cautious than companies in the rest of the world, they are set to outpace firms in other regions,” he said.
“Additionally, they are already delivering more value from their spending on generative AI.
“To continue to make the most of this technology and to become AI-first organisations, they should focus on talent development and making AI more accessible through a platform ecosystem.”
Infosys found that the biggest obstacles to APAC adoption were caution around responsible AI, concerns about impact on reputation and employee readiness.
Data privacy, data usability, ethics and bias were all concerns for APAC countries, though ANZ was less concerned about data usability.
APAC is more cautious about GenAI’s business impact than North America and Europe – almost 10% expected a negative impact on reputation versus less than 5% for North America and Europe.
ANZ had the lowest level of employee readiness at 56%, compared with nearly 70% in other companies in the region. Firms in Australia and New Zealand were mostly looking to upskill their existing workforce to fill that gap.
More companies in APAC (30%) than North America (20%) and Europe (25%) expected GenAI to be effective for streamlining product development and design – China drove this view, with nearly 35% emphasising this area for maximum GenAI impact.
APAC companies were also more likely to believe GenAI would transform content generation and creativity. Twenty-two percent of APAC firms held this sentiment, led by 30% in Japan.
The Infosys Generative AI Radar APAC report included insights from interviews with business leaders and AI practitioners plus a survey of 1,000 respondents from Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, India and Singapore.
Infosys has more than four decades experience managing global enterprise systems and enables clients in more than 56 countries to navigate their digital transformation powered by cloud and AI.
