F E A T U R E
of organisations are considered‘ future ready’, having invested in scalable infrastructure, mature data governance and specialised operational expertise, highlighting a widening readiness gap across the region.
Challenges faced by the Builders
Across Asia, the research identifies a reinforcing cycle that keeps many organisations stuck in pilot mode. AI initiatives are often launched on infrastructure that cannot scale to production, limiting their ability to demonstrate measurable ROI and making it harder to justify further investment in purpose-built, highdensity environments. This challenge is compounded by gaps in in-house expertise, with many organisations lacking the specialist operational skills required to manage increasingly complex AI infrastructure at scale.
" Across Asia, organisations are moving quickly from experimentation to implementation, but many are discovering that AI success now depends less on training models and more on foundations," said Chris Street, Group Chief Revenue Officer of ST Telemedia Global Data Centres.“ Without scalable infrastructure and operational readiness in place, it becomes difficult to convert early AI ambition into consistent business value.”
The sustainability blind spot
Despite rising energy and cooling demands driven by AI workloads, sustainability considerations remain secondary for most organisations when evaluating infrastructure options. Although 27 % of organisations say ESG goals will actively shape or be central to their future plans, 64 % of organisations across Asia continue to prioritise performance or cost, even as power density, thermal efficiency and long term total cost of ownership become increasingly critical factors in scaling AI responsibly.
A disconnect between what organisations want and what they need
The study also highlights a persistent disconnect between how organisations evaluate infrastructure partners and the capabilities they actually need to scale AI. Across Asia, organisations continue to prioritise baseline requirements like security and reliability, despite identifying operational expertise, scalability and cost efficiency as their most significant challenges.
Singapore: Ahead of the region, but facing a new constraint
These challenges are visible across the region, but they manifest differently in more mature markets. Singapore stands out against the regional baseline with a significantly larger share of organisations having progressed beyond early-stage pilots. While only 17 % of organisations across Asia are considered future ready, 40 % of Singapore organisations
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