东南亚人工智能：机遇时代

Southeast Asia is entering a pivotal era for AI—from scaling upadoption to capturing value to shape the region’s digital future. By Vinayak HV and Vivek Lathwith Amy Yu and Saurish Basu February 2026 Contents Introduction.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................8Chapter 1:Southeast Asia’s AI moment: A region on the rise for AI opportunities............................................................................. 12Digital use is accelerating..................................................................................................................................................................................................13The tech ecosystem is thriving and has become a competitive arena for global cloud players...........................................16Scalable start-ups are growing, but need more investment.......................................................................................................................20Data centers are fast growing—and come with challenges....................................................................................................................... 22Regional coordination positions countries in Southeast Asia as responsible AI leaders........................................................23Chapter 2:Southeast Asia’s AI acceleration: Leapfrogging amid infrastructure and talent challenges..............................26Scaling up: Nearly half of companies are moving beyond pilots............................................................................................................. 27Size and pricing matter: Enterprise leaders advance in AI, while MSMEs face pricing pressures....................................30Industry leaders: Technology, media, and telecommunications and advanced industries are ahead.............................31The next frontier: Agentic AI is emerging across the enterprise but usage will take time.......................................................35Chapter 3:From adoption to impact—value capture is steadily increasing...........................................................................................38Southeast Asia’s priority barriers to value capture...........................................................................................................................................39Higher performers are pursuing AI boldly..............................................................................................................................................................45Moving from piloting to performance........................................................................................................................................................................51Chapter 4:The way forward—building an enabling ecosystem collaboratively..................................................................................54A collaboration agenda for Southeast Asia...........................................................................................................................................................55Creating an enabling ecosystem..................................................................................................................................................................................56Acknowledgements.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................58About the authors..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................59 AI in Southeast Asia:An era of opportunity AI adoption in Southeast Asia is at an inflection point—moving rapidly from exploration to deployment. With strongdigital foundations, tech-savvy enterprises, and a young, connected population, the region’s major economies areaccelerating toward global competitiveness. Southeast Asia is the world’s AI arena Southeast Asia is the new arena for cloud and AI innovation. With billions invested by Chinese and US tech giants, theregion is becoming a hub for hyperscale infrastructure, AI centers of excellence (CoEs), and next-gen commerce. From Singapore’s 60+ AI CoEs to multibillion-dollar cloud expansions in Malaysia and Thailand, East meets West topower growth, flexibility, and resilience for enterprises. Alibaba Cloud opened its third data centerin Malaysia inJuly 2025 US $50 billion has been invested by hyperscalers suchSouthSeasu AiuwArld’AouIt wn:ufaapyA:Ssmubd’raoag,in AI-ready data center andcloud infrastructure across the region Tencent Cloud (China) has operated a