AI adoption surges in Singapore but strong ROI lags

Singapore organisations report widespread use of artificial intelligence, but far fewer say they can demonstrate strong returns on investment, according to research by Hitachi Vantara.

The company's State of Data Infrastructure 2025 study found that 96% of Singapore respondents report some level of AI use. Nearly two-thirds of respondents in Singapore said they have seen early success. Only 23% rated their organisation as industry-leading in achieving ROI from AI.

The research points to operational and security issues that firms associate with data complexity as AI projects expand. In Singapore, 52% of respondents said the complexity of their data makes it more difficult to detect a security breach.

Hitachi Vantara surveyed more than 1,200 C-level executives and senior IT leaders across 15 markets. The Asia and Oceania sample included 425 respondents. Singapore accounted for 51 respondents.

Adoption versus ROI

The survey data suggests that AI deployment has moved beyond pilots for many Singapore enterprises. It also suggests that executives do not always see the same level of progress when they assess sustained business value.

The study reported a sharp drop between the share of organisations that use AI and the share that consider themselves leaders on AI ROI. Hitachi Vantara described this as a disconnect between deployment and operational readiness.

Respondents also raised concerns about the condition of underlying data infrastructure. In Singapore, 64% agreed that if leadership fully understood how fragile their data infrastructure is, it would keep them up at night.

Complexity and risk

Hitachi Vantara framed data complexity as a strategic issue that affects governance, visibility and cyber resilience. It said AI workloads increase demands on data environments. It said sprawling data environments create additional management burdens.

For Singapore organisations, the survey result on breach detection links data sprawl to cyber risk. The 52% figure suggests many respondents view complexity as a practical barrier to identifying attacks and incidents.

The research also described AI as exposing weaknesses rather than reducing them. It cited areas including data visibility, governance and cyber resilience.

Governance focus

Hitachi Vantara said Singapore firms show what it called a more risk-aware approach as AI becomes embedded in operations. It said organisations place more emphasis on governance, security and operational discipline. It contrasted this with rapid expansion of AI use.

The company linked this approach to expectations around reliability and trust, particularly where AI influences business decisions. It said this dynamic raises infrastructure expectations and makes weaknesses more visible.

"AI success is no longer about experimentation alone. It depends on whether data environments are resilient, governed and trusted," said Joe Ong, Vice President and General Manager for ASEAN, Hitachi Vantara.

Regional sample

The Asia and Oceania group in the study included respondents from Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Singapore and Taiwan. The sample included 80 respondents in Australia, 81 in China, 55 in Hong Kong, 104 in India, 51 in Singapore and 54 in Taiwan.

Hitachi Vantara said respondents represented a range of industries and organisational sizes. It said the results were weighted by industry and role type.

In Singapore, the company said it surveyed senior business and technology leaders responsible for data infrastructure, cybersecurity and AI strategy.

Infrastructure decisions

Hitachi Vantara positioned the findings as an indicator that firms recognise the need for stronger data foundations. It also said organisations face challenges in turning that awareness into long-term action.

The company highlighted data environment simplification, governance and visibility as areas that influence whether organisations progress from early success to sustained value from AI.

Ong said Singapore organisations face a new stage of operational pressure as AI use scales. "Singapore businesses are clearly ahead in adoption, but the next phase will be defined by how well they manage complexity, security and performance as AI scales," said Ong.