China Leads Asia-Pacific's GenAI Charge, Doubling Investments

A recent report from Infosys Research, forecasts a significant surge in corporate spending on generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in the Asia-Pacific region, with expenditures expected to reach US$3.4 billion in 2024, nearly tripling the current level. 

Leading the region is China, where GenAI investment is projected to grow by over 160% to reach $2.1 billion. Following closely behind, Australia and New Zealand are expected to see their investments rise by more than 150%, from US$60 million to US$151 million. Notably, Australian companies are poised to derive significant business value from their GenAI investments. 

Despite this optimistic outlook, businesses in Asia-Pacific are more cautious about the potential impacts of GenAI compared to their counterparts in North America and Europe. Approximately 10% of companies in the region anticipate negative effects on their reputation, with concerns around AI data privacy, data availability, ethics, and bias being top of mind. 

In terms of expected benefits, a higher proportion of companies in Asia Pacific (30%) believe that GenAI will effectively drive product development and design processes, compared to North America (20%) and Europe (25%). China stands out in this regard, with nearly 35% of companies emphasizing this area to maximize the impact of GenAI. 

Furthermore, companies in Asia Pacific are more inclined to believe that GenAI will transform content generation and creativity. About 22% of companies in the region hold this view, with Japanese companies being the most optimistic at 30%.