The cross-market forces is shaping Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ)’s emergence in the global artificial intelligence (AI) landscape, a report from UiPath showed recently.
According to the “UiPath AI & Agentic Automation Trends 2026” report, the APJ region has long been a hotbed and proving ground for artificial intelligence (AI) implementation, and this growth momentum is not slowing down.
It is noted that IDC forecasts that the region’s enterprise AI spending will almost double from $90 billion in 2025 to $176 billion by 2028.
The report highlighted that much of this spending is focused on agentic AI.
In fact, 40 percent of enterprises in APJ are already using AI agents, with more than 50 percent planning to deploy them by 2026.
“The paradigm shift to agentic AI in APJ is accelerating. Enterprises are increasingly looking to leverage agentic automation workflows and deploy AI agents to improve productivity, efficiency, and business growth，
“In 2026, companies that succeed with AI won’t be the ones with the flashiest pilots. They’ll be the ones with the best deployment strategy to orchestrate people, processes, and technology together, all in a framework that’s well-governed and trustworthy,” said Amit Khandelwal, Regional VP and Managing Director for Southeast Asia, UiPath.
The report also highlighted APJ’s unique role in the global AI landscape, including the factors shaping its rise as the AI launchpad of the world, and how the agentic era is shaping businesses and the broader workforce in 2026.
Firstly, in 2026, APJ is poised to export groundbreaking AI innovation worldwide, marking a definitive maturation of its role in the global technology landscape.
This signals a shift in the region from being primarily an adopter of global solutions to becoming a developer and exporter of technology.
APJ’s rise in the global AI landscape can be attributed to the collective strengths of its diverse markets.
India is establishing itself as the world’s research and development (R&D) engine, powered by a vast developer base and a growing network of over 1,950 Global Capability Centers (GCCs).
Previously functioning as support centers for back-office processes, GCCs are transforming into strategic hubs that drive innovation, research, and digital transformation.
Many are now responsible for building and exporting global AI solutions, solidifying India’s pivotal role in the global tech landscape.
In Southeast Asia, agile startup ecosystems in places like Singapore, Vietnam, and Indonesia are serving as real-world sandboxes for AI-first applications.
This fast-paced, dynamic environment is fueling rapid innovation, reshaping diverse industries with AI-driven solutions.
Meanwhile, Australia is establishing itself as a valuable testbed for developing and scaling AI solutions across sectors, while China’s leadership in AI patents, Taiwan’s semiconductor chips dominance, and Japan’s advanced R&D infrastructure are anchoring innovation at a global scale.
These established powerhouses provide the deep expertise and resources needed to push the boundaries of AI technology.
Secondly, APJ organizations are intensifying AI investments, with over 50 percent reallocating funds from other areas to double down on AI.
For those planning to invest in AI agents in the next two years, close to a third (29 percent) already have an established investment plan.
This is a deliberate, strategic decision to fund future growth by shifting away from traditional investments.
However, organizations now expect AI to deliver concrete, measurable results that will secure their position in a competitive future.
Across APJ, C-suites are demanding a 2–4x return on investment within 12 to 18 months of deployment.
This is driving a new level of rigor and accountability in every step of the AI project lifecycle.
Thirdly, for years, AI has been seen as the ultimate tool for efficiency as businesses use AI to automate processes, streamline operations, and reduce costs.
But the introduction of AI agents, which can reason, plan, and execute complex workflows autonomously, has opened up new possibilities.
In 2026, APJ organizations will leverage AI as a growth engine to unlock new revenue streams, by embedding AI into core operations and reshaping entire industries.
For example, financial services firms can harness agentic AI to streamline workflows across loan processing and claim validation.
This frees up time for employees to focus on complex cases, explore cross-selling and up-selling opportunities, and deliver personalized services to customers.
Manufacturers can also use agentic AI for supplier and inventory management, and dynamic production scheduling.
This creates agile supply chains that can respond instantly to market demands and opens up new opportunities for on-demand manufacturing.
Fourthly, like the rest of the world, organizations in APJ recognize the importance of orchestration to achieve true ROI from investment.
Over 70 percent of APJ firms believe that orchestration will deliver a significant competitive advantage in the next 18 months.
Orchestration bridges the gap between isolated workflows, allowing enterprises to coordinate, control, and optimize the work of AI agents, robotic process automation (RPA) robots, and people across end-to-end agentic workflows and systems.
This unified approach allows for seamless collaboration between people, agents, and robots, which drives contextual decision-making and adaptive responses to dynamic business environments.
Orchestration is proving critical across APJ’s diverse economies.
Healthcare organizations in India, for instance, are orchestrating AI agents, robots, and human expertise to create intelligent, coordinated workflows, which improves operational efficiency and deliver better patient outcomes.
Fifthly, in 2026, trust will be the new currency in the agentic AI era.
As businesses in APJ accelerate their adoption of agentic AI, they are realizing that data governance, explain ability (understanding of AI systems’ actions and decisions), security, and compliance are just as critical as the technology itself. Without a strong foundation of trust, scaling AI efforts is impossible.
Across APJ, the report is seeing a push by the public sector to establish frameworks to scale AI innovation ethically and responsibly.
Japan’s AI Promotion Act takes an “innovation-first” approach to AI regulation to promote the research, development, and use of AI technologies in the country.
In Australia, the Voluntary AI Safety Standard protects AI use in high-risk settings, without hindering AI deployment in low-risk applications.
Across Southeast Asia, the ASEAN Guide on AI Governance and Ethics establishes common principles for trustworthy AI and highlight the best practices for organizations in the region to implement trustworthy AI.
China and Hong Kong are balancing the need for rapid deployment with a growing awareness of ethical and regulatory concerns.
As discussions around ethical AI and data privacy gain momentum, reflecting the global trend towards responsible AI, the conversation is shifting from “how fast can we deploy?” to “how can we deploy responsibly?”.
Sixthly, Agentic AI is redistributing tasks between humans, AI agents, and robots, fundamentally transforming how work gets done.
According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs report, 86 percent of employers surveyed expect AI and information processing technologies to transform their business by 2030.
In the future workplace, roles are redefined: AI agents think, robots do, and people lead.
Here, AI agents interpret data and make decisions in real-time, while traditional robots automate rule-based and repetitive tasks.
As AI systems become more advanced and trustworthy, humans are moving from direct involvement to a higher-level, monitoring and oversight capacity, transitioning from “humans in the loop” to “humans on the loop”.
The future workplace will also demand a new skill set. By 2030, 70 percent of the skills required for most jobs will fundamentally change as a result of AI.
This monumental shift is already evident across the APJ region: In Australia, the number of job postings requiring AI-related skills soared from 2,000 in 2010 to 23,000 in 2024.
Hong Kong also shows clear uptake, with AI-related job postings increasing from 1.6 percent to 1.9 percent between 2023 and 2024.
Looking ahead, Japan requires about 4.98 million workers specializing in AI and robotics by 2040, signaling the huge demand for workers with such skill sets in the workplace.
In conclusion, UiPath said 2026 marks a decisive, two-fold shift for APJ, setting the stage for its emergence onto the global AI landscape.
Internally, the region is moving beyond isolated pilots and technical proofs of concepts (POCs) to implement integrated, value-driven solutions that deliver tangible business outcomes.
However, success with harnessing AI’s full potential will be contingent on deploying orchestration to coordinate the actions of agents, people, and robots end-to-end; establishing robust governance for trust and compliance; and undertaking upskilling efforts to prepare the workforce for the agentic era.
Externally, it said APJ is transforming from a consumer of global technology into a developer of technology for the world, propelled by the region’s massive AI investment, a vast regional talent pool, and rapid technological maturity. This collective momentum ensures APJ does not just adapt to the agentic era but actively sets its pace.