Dell Technologies expects agentic artificial intelligence (AI), stronger governance frameworks and the rise of sovereign AI to reshape enterprises and governments across Asia-Pacific over the next two years, as organisations move from experimentation to large-scale deployment.
The outlook was shared at Dell’s Predictions: 2026 & Beyond briefing for Asia Pacific Japan & Greater China (APJC) media, led by the company’s Global Chief Technology Officer and Chief AI Officer John Roese, alongside APJC President Peter Marrs.
Roese said the rapid acceleration of AI is set to “reengineer the entire fabric of enterprise and industry”, changing how organisations operate, build and innovate. He added that AI adoption is now moving at an unprecedented scale and pace, with tangible business outcomes increasingly in focus.
From pilots to AI at scale
Marrs noted that conversations with customers across the region have shifted decisively from proofs of concept to real-world deployment. “Conversations are on very real adoption, and AI is creating a truly transformational opportunity,” he said, adding that Dell is working with customers to build AI at scale.
One example cited was Sandisk in Malaysia, where Dell is supporting AI-driven smart manufacturing and product design, enabling up to 95 per cent “lights-out” factory operations. Marrs also pointed to the growing deployment of agentic AI, where autonomous software agents manage complex workflows with minimal human intervention.
Organisations such as Zoho in India are working with Dell to accelerate agentic AI adoption, focusing on contextual, privacy-first and multimodal enterprise AI systems. Marrs said this reflects how AI has become more accessible to companies of different sizes across the region.
Roese described the industry as entering the “autonomous agent era”, with agentic AI evolving from a digital assistant into an active manager of long-running and complex processes. As adoption deepens into 2026, he said organisations may be surprised by how much responsibility these agents take on, improving human productivity and optimising non-AI work.
Governance and resilient AI infrastructure
As enterprises scale AI, Roese stressed the need to rethink how AI systems are built and protected. He highlighted the importance of resilient “AI factories” that combine compute infrastructure with cyber recovery, data protection and vaulting capabilities to ensure continuity in production environments.
He also warned that the speed of AI development is creating volatility, making governance frameworks essential rather than optional. “The technology and its use cases are not going to be successful if you do not have discipline and governance around how you operate your AI strategy,” Roese said.
While Dell previously predicted “agentic” as a defining theme for 2025, Roese said governance will play a much larger role going forward, shaping how enterprises, regions and countries deploy AI safely and sustainably.
Sovereign AI gains momentum in Asia
At a national level, Marrs said sovereign AI – where countries build and control their own AI infrastructure and data – is gaining momentum across Asia-Pacific as AI becomes strategically important.
He cited partnerships with Macquarie Data Centres in Australia and NAVER Cloud in South Korea, aimed at establishing secure, local infrastructure to support trusted AI innovation. Marrs added that sovereign AI is emerging as a new stream within the AI economy, with implications for economic transformation and digital sovereignty.
Roese echoed this view, saying the sovereign AI market is likely to be much larger than many expect, given the foundational role of infrastructure in all AI initiatives.
Building talent and ecosystems
To support long-term growth, Marrs emphasised the importance of collaboration across government, industry and academia. He highlighted Dell’s APJ AI Innovation Hub as a platform combining technology, talent and partners to strengthen regional capabilities.
By working with ecosystem partners, Dell aims to help develop skills and advance Asia-Pacific’s competitiveness in AI, Marrs said.
Dell expects agentic AI adoption, governance frameworks and sovereign AI investments to accelerate through 2026, with enterprises and governments increasingly focused on scalable, resilient and locally grounded AI deployments.
