AI in Southeast Asia: An era of opportunity

Countries and companies in Southeast Asia are recognising that the region is at an inflection point, where technological advancements are changing value creation. While AI development and adoption continues to gain momentum in Southeast Asia, obstacles remain in companies' path to capturing the full value of their AI ambitions.

To understand the current state of AI development in Southeast Asia, McKinsey collaborated with the Singapore Economic Development Board and Tech in Asia to survey over 300 respondents from companies with AI use, of varying annual revenue, from six key markets – Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam – and across 10 industries; from healthcare to travel, logistics, and legal and professional services.

Key Insights:

• AI Adoption in Southeast Asia shows stronger momentum than the global average Nearly half of Southeast Asian companies surveyed have moved beyond AI pilots, outpacing the global average. Uncover how the six ASEAN markets fare against competitors like Europe and the US.
• Nine in 10 organisations say they are ‘ready to experiment’ with Agentic AI That said, barriers to scaling agentic AI beyond just technical functions remain, with usage in externally facing functions in its early days. Find out why boardroom enthusiasm isn’t translating into more real-world adoption.
• Unlocking lasting value from AI still requires strong foundations Top performing organisations in the region treat AI as core to business reinvention rather than pilots. This report crystallises the top three traits an organisation must possess to lead in the AI era.
• Organisations are allocating 11 to 40 per cent of tech budgets to AI Yet, few observe actual impact to their bottom-line performance. Discover the barriers commonly cited by companies and actionable advice for commercial impact to materialise.

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