Avnet Insights 2026: APAC Engineers Accelerate AI Integration to Strengthen Industrial Competitiveness
SINGAPORE: Artificial intelligence adoption across Asia-Pacific is entering a new phase, as more companies move beyond pilot projects towards large-scale industrial deployment.
This shift was highlighted in the fifth annual Avnet Insights survey released by Avnet, which tracks global trends in AI integration across technology and manufacturing sectors.
The report indicates that AI is increasingly becoming a core component of product design, automation systems, and digital solutions, reshaping the region’s industrial landscape.
Globally, 77 per cent of engineers reported improving market conditions for their design solutions. In Asia-Pacific, adoption continues to accelerate, with China leading in large-scale implementation and Japan prioritising system reliability and long product lifecycles.
These complementary strengths have contributed to a more resilient and efficient regional innovation ecosystem.
Tan Aik Hoon, Regional President for South Asia, Korea and Avnet United, said the findings provide valuable guidance for Southeast Asian markets.
He noted that ASEAN’s growing role as a global manufacturing hub presents significant opportunities for engineers to leverage commercially driven AI strategies.
“The ‘commercial-first’ approach highlighted in the survey enables engineers in Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam to balance speed, quality, and scalability in product development,” he said.
The survey also revealed that 56 per cent of engineers worldwide are now shipping products with embedded AI, representing a 33 per cent increase from the previous year. This reflects a clear transition from experimentation to full-scale deployment.
Across APAC, the most widely adopted AI applications include process automation, predictive maintenance, and fault detection. At the same time, engineers are increasingly integrating Edge AI and machine learning to support multi-modal and distributed intelligence systems.
Despite rapid progress, several challenges remain. Data quality and continuous system maintenance were identified as major barriers, while skills gaps in model optimisation and analytics continue to affect deployment efficiency.
In response, many organisations are investing in talent development and digital infrastructure to convert technical complexity into competitive advantage.
“The survey confirms that AI has entered its most critical stage: large-scale implementation,” Tan said. “In an environment where speed to market defines success, Avnet helps bridge resource gaps by providing technical expertise and ecosystem support.”
The Avnet Insights 2026 survey was conducted online among 1,200 engineers from the Americas, EMEA, Asia, and Japan between October 21 and November 5, 2025.
Industry observers believe the findings reflect a broader regional transformation, where AI is no longer viewed as an emerging technology but as a strategic necessity.
With continued investment in skills, infrastructure, and partnerships, Asia-Pacific is expected to further strengthen its position as a global leader in industrial digitalisation and AI-driven innovation.
-wilayah.com.my
