Singapore’s companies struggle to harness transformative power of AI, survey finds

SINGAPORE:  While the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) is growing rapidly in Singapore and across Asia-Pacific, a significant gap remains between AI’s potential and its impact on businesses, according to a recent survey by data center provider Digital Realty.

Only four out of 10 Singaporean companies view their AI applications as fully transformative, signaling that many are still grappling with leveraging AI for substantial changes in operations and innovation. This trend aligns with regional findings, as just one-quarter of Asia-Pacific (APAC) companies currently consider their AI deployments transformative.

The survey reveals that digital infrastructure is a major factor holding back AI’s potential.

Digital Realty’s findings show that over half (56%) of APAC businesses are still building the infrastructure required to support AI advancements. Key infrastructure challenges include limited data storage capacity for handling vast AI datasets (64%), a lack of computational power necessary for efficient processing (55%), and unreliable connectivity to distributed data sources (49%).

Achieving success with AI in data-driven applications also requires advanced data exchange capabilities. Digital Realty highlights that data center providers play a critical role in establishing a unified platform that ensures secure data sharing across users, networks, cloud services, and IT systems.

To maximize AI’s transformative potential, companies need robust infrastructure capable of supporting AI’s intensive power and energy demands (51%), proximity of AI workloads to data and users for optimal performance (46%), and strict compliance with data privacy regulations and AI standards (45%).

The report highlights the pressing need for improved digital infrastructure and regulatory alignment to unlock AI’s full value in Singapore and the broader APAC region. Digital Realty’s survey suggests that without these enhancements, businesses may struggle to achieve the transformative benefits that AI promises.