Singapore companies' AI readiness unchanged amidst lack of skilled talent: report

Notably, 18% of companies plan to increase AI funding to over 40% of the budget in the next years.

Most companies in Singapore are not fully prepared to harness AI’s potential, with only 13% fully ready to deploy AI technologies, Cisco reported. 

In its 2024 AI Readiness Index, Cisco found Singapore's performance in the index was unchanged from a year ago, indicating a lack of progress. 

Cisco noted that the lack of skilled talent emerged as the top challenge, particularly in infrastructure, data, and governance.

Infrastructure readiness is also an area of concern, with only 22% of companies equipped with sufficient GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) capacity to meet current and future AI demands, whilst just 25% have robust data protection capabilities.

Despite this, 18% of companies still plan to increase their AI funding to over 40% of their IT budgets in the next four to five years, up from only 4% currently.

More than half (51%) said they will prioritise improving the scalability, flexibility, and manageability of their IT infrastructure.