PwC’s survey showed a widening artificial intelligence (AI) maturity divide as many Malaysian organizations struggle to translate experimentation into measurable financial impact.
According to its 29th Global CEO Survey revealed on Tuesday, less than a quarter of CEOs in Malaysia (23 percent) report that AI has driven additional revenue over the past 12 months, while 17 percent are seeing cost reductions.
However, 26 percent say that AI has increased their cost base.
Consequently, the majority of leaders find that AI has yet to deliver a material shift in their overall financial performance.
This value gap reflects an emphasis on “bottom-up” experimentation.
To date, many organizations have focused on building foundational confidence, expanding user access, and lifting everyday individual productivity.
While these efforts have delivered early productivity gains, they have not yet scaled into the consistent, enterprise-wide impact required to redefine the bottom line.
Meanwhile, enterprise-wide AI adoption remains limited.
Less than a fifth of CEOs report that AI has been applied to a large or very large extent in core functions, including demand generation (19 percent), support services (8 percent), and direction setting (8 percent).
Even in the development of products and services, where AI’s impact is often touted most highly, adoption stands at a mere 8 percent.
Overall, AI awareness is high, but deep operational integration is still the exception, said the survey.
Indeed, this executive-level data aligns with a visible “usage gap” on the ground.
In PwC’s Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2025, only 19 percent of employees in Malaysia reported using GenAI on a daily basis.
Together, these findings underscore that while AI awareness is high, deep operational integration remains the exception rather than the rule.
It is noted that the strategic focus is now shifting from proof of concept to proof of value.
This transition marks a move away from experimentation towards business-led, top-down integration tied directly to growth.
It indicates a fundamental shift from simply ‘doing things differently’ to doing entirely different things—including the wholesale rethinking business models.
While this transition is underway, for the majority of Malaysian businesses, the financial returns remain in an emergent phase rather than being fully realized.
“2026 is shaping up as a decisive year for AI. A small group of companies are already turning AI into measurable financial returns, while many others are still struggling to move beyond pilots,
“That gap is starting to show up in confidence and competitiveness—and it will widen quickly for those that don’t act,” said Mohamed Kande, PwC Global Chairman.
PwC’s 29th Global CEO survey incorporates insights from 4,454 chief executives, including 1,766 from Asia Pacific and 37 from Malaysia, highlighting a significant shift in executive sentiment as leaders look ahead to a year of reinvention.
The survey revealed that 84 percent of CEOs in Malaysia plan to expand beyond their traditional industry boundaries
Leaders in Malaysia will target adjacent and fast-moving sectors such as retail (22 percent), consumer goods and services (16 percent), and technology (14 percent), among others.
This appetite for reinvention is reinforced by bold deal-making ambitions, with 51% planning at least one major acquisition in the next three years, surpassing both Asia Pacific (28 percent) and global (45 percent) averages, despite a cautious global merger and acquisition (M&A) outlook.
In the corporate landscape, CEOs are accelerating moves into new sectors.
Over the past five years, the number of Malaysian companies entering entirely new sectors has surged to 76 percent — a significant leap from 42 percent in 2025.
This transformation is happening against a backdrop of caution.
Only 33 percent of CEOs in Malaysia are now very or extremely confident about their company’s revenue growth over the next 12 months — a double-digit decline from last year.
Still, they recognize the need for reinvention: 70 percent worry their transformation is being outpaced by technological change, while 41 percent question if they are doing enough to safeguard their company’s medium-to long-term viability.
This ebbing confidence is shaped by what the report calls a “polycrisis” of overlapping threats competing for leadership attention, including geopolitical tension, economic volatility, cyber risk, and climate concern.
Compounding these external pressures is the availability of skills, a top concern for CEOs in Malaysia at 35 percent, followed by cyber risks and technological disruption, both at 33 percent.
Trade-related pressures, on the other hand, remain relatively contained.
For most Malaysian firms, tariff pressures have not breached the bottom line.
Only 24 percent of CEOs surveyed report feeling highly exposed to tariff risks, aligning closely with the Asia Pacific average.
70 percent expect tariffs to have little to no impact on their company’s net profit margin over the next 12 months.
“Today is a defining moment for growth. In the face of complexity, we are seeing CEOs respond not by retreating, but by reimagining their businesses—venturing beyond traditional sector lines and embracing new possibilities,
“The greatest advantage belongs to those who see every boundary as a bridge, and who reinvent with conviction to work across industries in pursuit of greater, sustainable impact,” said Soo Hoo Khoon Yean, Managing Partner, PwC Malaysia.
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