More than 60% of enterprises in Asia-Pacific (APAC) plan to increase investments in sovereign cloud and artificial intelligence (AI), according to new research from Accenture.
The study found that 63% of organizations across APAC, and 64% in Southeast Asia, expect to adopt technologies with sovereign capabilities over the next two years. Almost 60% of APAC firms plan to raise spending on sovereign cloud.
“Enterprise investment in sovereign technologies is driven by the resilience agenda, with an expected focus on protecting and defending data and infrastructure in a rapidly evolving tech and policy landscape,” said Ryoji Sekido, CEO of Asia Oceania and CEO APAC for Accenture. “What’s equally important to long term resilience is an organization’s ability to innovate.”
Sekido also noted that by creating clarity around where data lives, how systems are protected and how new ideas can scale safely, sovereign AI presents tremendous innovation potential.
“As businesses recognize this and as other barriers are lowered, investments will undoubtedly accelerate,” Sekido said. “We see this opening up a unique opportunity for regional players, especially telecom companies and neo-cloud operators.”
Southeast Asia in the study covers Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam.
Companies said the main drivers are compliance with national security and data protection rules, as well as support for their country’s digital independence and growth plans. Governments across the region are also moving to establish clearer sovereign AI policies, although progress and execution vary.
Regulated sectors are currently leading adoption. Public sector organizations, along with enterprises in utilities, insurance, health, and energy, including oil and gas, are among the main users of sovereign AI infrastructure.
The report shows that most organizations apply sovereignty rules to data, but fewer extend them to AI models. Around 60% of APAC firms apply sovereignty to data, while only 25% apply it to AI models or “intelligence.” High costs for sovereign-grade infrastructure and foundation models, along with limited local solutions, remain key challenges.
Many enterprises prefer a “hybrid sovereignty” approach. About 57% of APAC respondents, and 48% in Southeast Asia, favor a model that combines global hyperscaler capabilities with locally governed infrastructure.
“Enterprises recognize that full technological independence is neither practical nor desirable, and where and how infrastructure and workloads are managed and hosted matters more than who does it,” said Kunal Shah, Sovereign AI lead for APAC at Accenture. “Beyond data protection, sovereign AI can drive growth and competitiveness through improved performance of AI loads, greater relevancy for better customer experience, and it can accelerate national industrial AI agendas. Enterprises that recognize this are already creating new sources of value with AI.”