China Masters AI at Scale, Japan Leads in Reliability, Driving Regional Innovation
BANGALORE, India, Feb. 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly embedded in products and solutions across Asia-Pacific, as engineers advance adoption while addressing operational and design challenges. This is according to Avnet’s fifth annual Avnet Insights survey, which tracks global trends in AI integration across industries.
Globally, 77% of engineers reported improving market conditions for their design products and solutions. Across APAC, adoption is accelerating, with China leading in large-scale deployment and Japan emphasizing reliability and long product lifecycles. These regional strengths and shifting priorities are collectively fueling the next wave of Asia-Pacific’s technological evolution.
“While this year’s survey focuses on established design hubs such as China and Japan, the findings provide valuable context for markets like India,” said Suresh Kamath, Managing Director, Avnet India. “As India continues its transition from a services-led economy toward product-driven innovation, the global shift toward at-scale, commercial-first AI offers important lessons for local automotive and industrial electronics ecosystems.”
Download the 2026 Avnet Insights: The Reality of Artificial Intelligence whitepaper here.
How is AI Adoption Advancing Across APAC?
More than half of engineers globally (56%) said they are shipping products with AI incorporated, a 33% increase from the previous year. In China, adoption exceeds the global average, with engineers embedding AI across industries including automotive, industrial automation, and smart manufacturing. Japan and other APAC markets are advancing steadily, prioritizing practical applications that enhance efficiency, reliability, and sustainability.
Top AI applications across the region mirror global trends: process automation (42%), predictive maintenance (28%), and fault/anomaly detection (28%) remain the most adopted functionalities. Engineers are also increasingly combining Edge AI and machine learning (ML), with 64% globally prioritizing both equally, reflecting the growing importance of multi-modal AI.
“From an India perspective, these global and regional trends reinforce what we are hearing from local customers,” added Kamath. “Many Indian engineering teams are moving beyond experimentation and exploring how AI can be deployed reliably at scale, particularly in cost-sensitive and power-constrained environments.”
Navigating Challenges to Drive Broadening Impact
As AI’s influence expands, APAC engineers continue to balance technical challenges with evolving skill requirements. Data quality (46%) and continuous maintenance (54%) remain the most cited obstacles, while regional teams are investing in talent development—particularly in model optimization (17%) and data analysis (16%)—to convert complexity into competitive advantage.
“The report highlights a gap between AI ambition and available expertise,” concluded Kamath. “While many organizations globally rely on commercial large language models due to limited internal capabilities, India’s deep engineering talent base is well positioned to benefit from the right semiconductor technologies and design ecosystems. Avnet India is focused on helping partners apply these global learnings to build scalable, real-world AI solutions.”
Download the 2026 Avnet Insights: The Reality of Artificial Intelligence whitepaper here.
The 2026 Avnet Insights survey conducted online was fielded to 1,200 engineers from the Americas, EMEA, Asia and Japan, from October 21 through November 5, 2025.
About Avnet
As a leading global technology distributor and solutions provider, Avnet has served customers’ evolving needs for more than a century. Through regional and specialized businesses around the world, we support customers and suppliers at every stage of the product lifecycle. We help companies adapt to change and accelerate the design and supply stages of product development. With a unique viewpoint from the center of the technology supply chain, Avnet is a trusted partner that solves complex design and supply chain issues so customers can realize revenue faster. Learn more about Avnet at http://www.avnet.com.
CONTACT: Seraphina Wee, seraphina.wee@avnet.com
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