Story Highlights:

• New IDC research commissioned by Dell Technologies finds Sovereign AI has surged to the second-highest investment priority for Asia Pacific governments.
• Almost all (99%) government leaders in Asia Pacific believe agentic AI will accelerate AI adoption with the majority calling for strong governance frameworks to unlock its full potential at scale.
• Nine in 10 government organizations report critical skills shortages that could determine whether pilots become trusted national platforms.

SINGAPORE - Media OutReach Newswire - 13 May 2026 - New research commissioned by Dell Technologies (NYSE: DELL) and conducted by International Data Corporation (IDC), reveals that governments across Asia Pacific (APJ) are moving decisively from AI exploration toward structured activation of Sovereign AI. The study, based on a survey of 360 government IT decision-makers across eight APJ markets, finds that Sovereign AI has risen from the seventh to the second-highest government investment priority in just one year. This signals a fundamental shift in how the region's public sector leaders view AI, seeing it as critical national digital infrastructure rather than a simple technology upgrade. APJ governments are shifting from awareness to activation, but investment needs to catch up The research reveals that Asia Pacific governments have moved well beyond conceptual discussion. Nearly half (46.1%) are actively evaluating Sovereign AI technologies, while more than a third (36.1%) are running initial proofs of concept. This activation is underpinned by a clear strategic rationale. More than three-quarters (76.9%) of government leaders agree that investing in Sovereign AI enhances their agency's resilience against geopolitical risks and supply chain disruptions. Despite this, only 3.1% are investing significantly so far. Meanwhile, only 1.7% of respondents say they have no plans to adopt Sovereign AI. Across the region, governments are pursuing "selective sovereignty" to maintain strong control over sensitive data, critical systems, and regulated workloads, while continuing to leverage global technology ecosystems for innovation and scale. Hybrid sovereign models that combine on-premises infrastructure and sovereign cloud environments with broader ecosystem access are emerging as the preferred deployment approach. Agentic AI poised to accelerate government AI adoption across Asia Pacific Asia Pacific government leaders are signalling near-universal confidence in agentic AI as a catalyst for accelerating AI adoption in the public sector. The research reveals that 99% of leaders see agentic AI as an accelerator, with more than a third (36.9%) believing it will play a major role and a further 62.1% expressing strong confidence in its potential when paired with robust governance and oversight frameworks. Only 1.1% remain uncertain. This positions Asia Pacific as bullish on agentic AI suggesting the region's governments are not hesitating on agentic AI, rather, they are actively preparing the governance foundations that will allow them to deploy it with confidence and at scale. This confidence is driven in part by operational necessity. With nearly nine in 10 APJ government organizations reporting critical digital skills shortages, agentic AI is emerging as a practical workforce multiplier, capable of automating complex administrative and analytical tasks and enabling government teams to deliver more with the talent they have. In a region where technology is outpacing workforce capability faster than the global average, autonomous AI systems offer a path to close the gap between ambition and capacity. In this context, Sovereign AI is increasingly functioning as the trust layer that unlocks the adoption of next-generation AI capabilities. By ensuring that agentic and generative AI systems operate within national policy, security, and auditability frameworks, governments can move faster precisely because the right controls are in place from the outset. Skills shortages emerge as the region's most critical constraint Despite strong strategic intent, APJ governments face acute workforce bottlenecks that risk constraining the transition from pilot to production. Nearly nine in 10 organizations report digital skills shortages, and more than half say these shortages are having a major impact on digital initiatives, significantly more so than the global average of 66.8%. The hardest-to-hire roles map directly to Sovereign AI readiness: AI safety and alignment researchers (42.5%), data architecture, management, and analytics professionals (35%), sovereign data governance (30%), sovereign cloud architecture and operations specialists (25.3%), and AI policy and governance specialists (25%). The research findings recommend a four-layer capability model in which governments retain direct ownership of policy, governance, and data stewardship roles while partnering with trusted ecosystem providers for frontier AI...