India leads Asia Pacific in AI investment surge, Lenovo CIO Playbook 2026 finds

A new Lenovo CIO Playbook 2026 report reveals that enterprises across Asia Pacific are rapidly moving from AI experiments to large-scale deployments, with India leading the region in investment growth, adoption momentum, and enterprise-wide AI integration.

Enterprises across Asia Pacific are accelerating their transition from AI experimentation to real-world implementation, with 96% of organizations planning to increase AI investments over the next 12 months, according to the Lenovo CIO Playbook 2026 - The Race for Enterprise AI commissioned by Lenovo with insights from IDC.

On average, organizations expect AI spending to rise by 15%, covering areas such as generative AI, agentic AI, public cloud AI services, on-premises AI infrastructure, and AI security tools. The report suggests that AI is now firmly embedded in enterprise strategies, rather than remaining in pilot phases.

India has emerged as the standout market in the region, with 99% of organizations planning to increase AI investments and the highest average annual budget growth at 19%.

India emerges as a regional AI leader

According to the report, Indian enterprises are prioritizing AI infrastructure deployment, workforce training, and generative AI applications, followed by AI devices and security tools focused on trust and transparency.

“AI decisions are now being made at the core of enterprise strategy,” said Sumir Bhatia, President, Asia Pacific, ISG at Lenovo. He noted that organizations able to integrate AI across infrastructure, operations, and security will gain the most long-term value.

CIOs across the region increasingly view AI as a key driver for revenue growth, profitability, and improved customer experience, making it central to digital transformation efforts.

AI adoption expands beyond IT departments

AI adoption in Asia Pacific is rapidly spreading beyond traditional IT teams. The report found that 66% of organizations are already piloting or systematically adopting AI, while another 15% remain in early stages and 19% are evaluating adoption.

In India, 59% of enterprises are actively deploying or piloting AI, with interest continuing to grow across sectors such as customer service, marketing, operations, and finance.

Notably, half of surveyed organizations report that non-IT departments are now funding AI initiatives, highlighting a shift toward enterprise-wide AI adoption and elevating the role of CIOs as cross-functional technology leaders.

Agentic AI gains attention but challenges remain

The report also points to rising interest in Agentic AI, which enables autonomous systems capable of executing tasks and decision-making processes. Currently, 21% of organizations report significant use of Agentic AI, while 59% are exploring or planning deployments, particularly in telecommunications, healthcare, and government sectors.

However, enterprise readiness remains uneven. Only 10% of organizations consider themselves prepared for large-scale implementation, with challenges including security, governance, data quality, and integration complexity.

“Agentic AI represents a fundamental shift in how intelligence is embedded into enterprises,” said Fan Ho, Executive Director and General Manager, Asia Pacific, Solutions and Services Group at Lenovo.

Hybrid AI architecture becomes the industry standard

As AI workloads expand, infrastructure strategy is becoming a critical decision for CIOs. The study found that 86% of Asia Pacific organizations now incorporate on-premises or edge environments as part of hybrid AI architectures, making hybrid deployment the preferred model.

In India, 90% of organizations favour hybrid AI environments, combining cloud, on-premises, and edge infrastructure to meet performance, security, and compliance needs.

“India’s AI journey reflects a builder mindset,” said Shailendra Katyal, Vice President and Managing Director, Lenovo India. He added that enterprises are investing in infrastructure and workforce readiness to scale AI responsibly while targeting nearly three dollars in return for every dollar invested.

The report concludes that while AI adoption is accelerating rapidly, the key challenge for enterprises in the coming years will be scaling AI projects from pilot stages to full production environments.