A Dell Technologies study reveals Malaysian organizations are rapidly scaling AI adoption, with focus shifting to infrastructure, cybersecurity, and data protection.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian organisations are rapidly advancing their adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), but will need greater investment in infrastructure, data protection, cybersecurity and workforce skills to scale AI successfully, according to a new Dell Technologies study.
The Modern Enterprise Readiness Study 2026 Malaysia, commissioned by Dell Technologies and conducted by research firm Vanson Bourne, found that the proportion of Malaysian organisations in the early-to-mid stages of their AI journey nearly halved from 54% in 2025 to 26% this year.
Meanwhile, 22% said they now have well-established AI and generative AI (GenAI) solutions in production.
The study surveyed 2,950 business and IT decision-makers from organisations with more than 100 employees across 35 countries.
As AI adoption accelerates, 68% of Malaysian organisations identified infrastructure modernisation as a critical next step, up from 48% in 2025.
A further 58% said they were prioritising a clearer roadmap connecting AI, data and security.
The study also highlighted concerns surrounding data protection, energy consumption and access to technology expertise.
Some 82% of Malaysian respondents said their data and intellectual property required the highest level of protection, while 90% said they would only scale AI with a credible energy strategy.
Meanwhile, 98% said they were ready for technology partners capable of providing greater support.
Dell Technologies said the findings indicated that Malaysian organisations were entering a new phase of AI adoption, with the focus shifting from experimentation towards measurable outcomes at production scale.
The study found that 68% of Malaysian organisations remained uncertain about what their industries would look like over the next three to five years, while 66% said macroeconomic conditions were prompting them to be more selective and focused on outcomes when making technology investments.
Over the next 24 months, the top transformation priorities identified by respondents were AI capabilities at 66%, cybersecurity and cyber resilience at 60%, workforce skills at 58%, workplace modernisation at 56% and data centre modernisation at 54%.
Some 92% agreed that treating AI, workplace and infrastructure modernisation as separate initiatives created operational inefficiencies.
Malaysian organisations are currently directing AI investments towards IT automation and infrastructure operations, cited by 60% of respondents, followed by employee productivity at 56%, product and service innovation at 54% and data analytics at 52%.
To support these efforts, 54% are prioritising internal skills and capacity development, while the same proportion highlighted data quality, access and governance.
Security, compliance and privacy concerns were cited by 50% of respondents as factors influencing investment decisions.
The study also found that 82% of organisations were focused on ensuring regulatory compliance when using data for AI, while 60% were factoring security and compliance requirements into their AI adoption plans.
Infrastructure remains another major consideration, with 68% saying their data centres were being developed towards full readiness for demanding AI and analytics workloads at production scale.
Data protection was also a key concern, with 82% saying their data and intellectual property were too valuable to place in generative AI environments where third parties could potentially gain access.
Dell said this was the highest proportion recorded among the markets covered by the study.
When selecting infrastructure platforms, 96% of respondents cited integrated cyber recovery and data protection capabilities as an important criterion, while 94% considered energy efficiency essential.
The study also highlighted the growing role of devices in supporting AI adoption.
Some 92% of respondents said modern devices improved collaboration and meeting quality, while 86% believed outdated devices limited their organisations’ ability to adopt AI-enabled applications.
All respondents agreed that AI PCs and modern devices would play an important role in their future business strategies.
AI functionality, cited by 64%, and security, cited by 60%, were the leading factors influencing future PC purchasing decisions.
Security considerations also extended to technology partnerships, with 96% expecting security to be embedded into every proposal from strategic partners.
Meanwhile, 88% expected their use of managed security services to increase over the next two to three years.
Dell Technologies managing director for South Asia and Emerging Markets Sumash Singh said Malaysia’s AI momentum was among the strongest across the markets tracked by the company.
“Our research confirms that organisations connecting data, infrastructure, security and partner capability as one strategy are the ones that will turn AI adoption into sustained, measurable business outcomes,” he said.
The study was commissioned by Dell Technologies and conducted by Vanson Bourne in June 2026, covering business and IT decision-makers from organisations with more than 100 employees across North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia-Pacific and Japan.
