New research from ST Telemedia Global Data Centres shows Singapore is leading the region in maturity but faces critical scaling bottlenecks as well as a widening AI readiness gap.

T Telemedia Global Data Centres

( STT GDC), one of the world’ s fastest-growing data centre colocation service providers headquartered in Singapore, has revealed findings of a new regional research study, Mind the Gap: Bridging the AI Infrastructure Readiness Divide, examining how organisations across Asia are progressing from AI ambition to execution.

High adoption, limited readiness across Asia

The report reveals that AI ambition across Asia is high, with nearly 90 % of organisations having embarked on their AI journeys. However, a significant 71 % remain in the‘ Builder’ stage of maturity, where initial AI pilots struggle to scale into production environments capable of delivering consistent and measurable return on investment( ROI). In contrast, only 17 % 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, high-density 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.”

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