APAC leads global AI investment with 250% surge in spending

New research from Rackspace Technology reveals a 250% year-on-year increase in global corporate AI investment, averaging USD $8.7 million, with Asia Pacific (APAC) leading at USD $11.3 million. The study surveyed 1,400 IT decision-makers, including 269 in APAC, highlighting a growing divide between AI Leaders (13% of respondents) and organizations still in the experimentation phase.

Key Findings

• AI Leaders (organizations embedding AI into core strategies) report 64% substantial benefits from deployments, compared to 32% for others.
• Leaders are 3x more likely to have AI agents in production and scale effectively.
• 95% of AI Leaders have strategic alignment on AI, and 75% have conducted workforce training.

"While nearly every organization is exploring AI, these forward-thinking companies are not waiting for the technology to mature—they have acted early," said Srini Koushik, President of AI, Technology, and Sustainability at Rackspace Technology.

Investment Trends

• 90% of APAC respondents expect increased AI spending over the next five years.
• Investment is split evenly between in-house AI solutions and third-party integrations.
• 65% of APAC firms anticipate a positive ROI within two years, with 26% projecting returns in 3-5 years.

AI Applications

• Customer experience is the top priority (90% of respondents), followed by employee productivity.
• 24% of businesses use AI to develop new products.
• Cybersecurity is both a top risk and a transformative AI application for the next 3-5 years.

Challenges

• 72% of APAC organizations struggle with scaling AI.
• 79% cite infrastructure investment as critical for scalable AI.
• Data privacy and regulatory compliance remain significant hurdles.