While companies in the Asia-Pacific region are eager to adopt artificial intelligence (AI), only 11% are truly prepared, a survey found.

IBM recently released a report titled “AI-Powered Industry 4.0 in Asia Pacific: Preparing for the Future of Industry.”

According to this, 85% of manufacturing, energy, and utility companies in the Asia-Pacific region assessed themselves as data-driven or AI-first organizations, but only 11% actually had company-wide digital capabilities.

The report warned that overestimating the maturity of corporate technology could lead to misguided strategic investments and create bottlenecks or stalls in digital transformation efforts.

In particular, only 10% of companies have implemented Industry 4.0 strategies, while 70% remain at the level of unexecutable plans or pilots.

Vulnerabilities were also revealed in securing and training talent.

Only 19% of companies were concerned about employee resistance, 26% had formal retraining programs, and only 16% were confident in their professional capabilities.

The disconnect between departments is also serious, with 67% applying AI only at the individual department level, and 73% failing to establish a knowledge sharing system.

The digital core system upgrade rate is also low.It was.

Forty percent of companies use predictive maintenance, and 37% have real-time supply chain visibility.

The level of AI integration is even lower, with 63% applying AI to only a single process, and only 10% implementing intelligent operations across the entire organization.

The report recommended establishing a system that incorporates customer feedback into decision-making (23%), expanding investments in real-time sustainability measurement (28%), and introducing advanced cyber resilience to prepare for the future Industry 5.0.

The report also presented best practices from market leaders.

Dongjin Semichem accelerated R&D and operational decision-making with the on-premise AI platform "ASK" based on IBM Watsonx.ai. Malaysia's SMART Modular Technologies automated quality inspections with Maximo Visual Inspection. China's Volkswagen FAW Engine reduced production lead times by 40% by integrating 5G, AI, and autonomous robotics.

IBM stated, “The will to adopt AI alone is not enough,” and added, “Securing enterprise-wide visibility, strengthening collaboration, and agile technology integration strategies are essential.”