APAC AI-driven Industrial 4.0: Building Future Industries

85% of companies claim they are prepared for AI, but only 11% have actually achieved it.

IBM's latest research reveals that despite APAC companies investing in artificial intelligence and industrial 4.0 capabilities, many companies overestimate their actual maturity level when applying AI.

Beijing, July 23, 2025 / PR Newswire / -- A new study commissioned by IBM has revealed that while APAC companies are increasing their investments in artificial intelligence and industrial 4.0 capabilities, many companies overestimate their actual maturity level when applying AI, facing foundational challenges.

This gap also holds a sense of urgency: if companies can find the right direction, they can turn their vision into action and accelerate the leap from industrial 4.0 to industrial 5.0.

This report, titled "APAC AI-driven Industrial 4.0: Building Future Industries," assessed the readiness of large APAC enterprises in the manufacturing and energy/utility sectors. The report shows that many companies have invested early in digital tools, especially in design and supply chain areas. However, to unleash true value, companies now need end-to-end visibility capabilities, stronger collaboration mechanisms, and a more AI-driven digital infrastructure.

APAC Artificial Intelligence-driven Industrial 4.0: Ambition vs Reality

Despite 85% of respondents rating themselves as "data-driven" or "AI-first," the objective assessment reveals that only 11% of organizations are at a relatively high maturity level (9% for data-driven and 2% for AI-first).

This cognition gap between ambition and reality indicates that if leaders overestimate their maturity level, companies' strategic investments may be misguided, leading to the inability to identify and solve bottlenecks, ultimately hindering their transformation.

Main obstacles include:

Strategic misalignment: Only 10% of companies have fully deployed an industrial 4.0 strategy, while 70% are stuck at the strategy execution stage or only have isolated plans or pilot projects, which will severely impact transformation effectiveness.

Lack of attention to employee resistance and skills development: Only 19% of companies focus on employee resistance issues, while 26% conduct formal skill enhancement or change management planning, resulting in only 16% of companies having confidence in internal professional capabilities. Without focused investment in building capabilities and employee involvement, AI pilot projects may stall.

Island-style execution: Approximately 67% of companies pursue ad-hoc, department-level use cases, while 73% lack cross-team knowledge sharing mechanisms, hindering collaboration and innovation, and slowing down the pace of progress.

Core system modernization lagging: Only 40% of companies widely adopt predictive maintenance, while 37% achieve real-time supply chain visibility, leaving enterprises continuously facing downtime and supply risks.

Achieving AI integration: Although 63% of companies apply AI to isolated processes, only 10% treat AI as a strategic pillar, resulting in the lack of an end-to-end intelligent operations system.

Closing the gap: APAC's path to industrial 5.0 readiness

Looking forward to the future, from industrial 4.0 to "people-centered, sustainable, and resilient" industrial 5.0 still faces crucial challenges:

Only 23% of companies have established feedback loops, providing information for product design and operation-related strategic decision-making; only 28% have invested in real-time, sustainable tracking systems, with only a quarter able to effectively quantify and report progress.

Lack of network resilience preparation: 50% of companies rely solely on basic defenses (firewalls and endpoint security), while advanced practices such as supplier risk assessment, SIEM systems, or AI-driven governance are limited in their application.

In these areas, strengthening is crucial to ensure industrial transformation's future adaptability, build trust, and create long-term value.

Spotlight: APAC leading companies set the benchmark

Despite challenges, this report highlights several pioneering cases of industrial 4.0 in practice:

Dongjin Semichem (Korea) is implementing a local AI platform called ASK, supported by IBM Watsonx.ai, to accelerate AI-driven decision-making in research and development and operations.

SMART Modular Technologies (Malaysia) is using IBM Maximo visual detection to achieve automated quality assurance, enhancing high-end manufacturing speed and precision.

FAW Jiefang Engine (China) is showcasing structured, data-driven leadership, leveraging 5G integration, AI, and automation technology to compress delivery cycles by 40%.

APAC has a unique leadership advantage in AI-driven industrial 4.0 transformation. Dr. Jianfei, IBM Greater China's Chief Technology Officer and General Manager of Technical Sales, said: "This report clearly shows that only by rapidly innovating and closely integrating with actual applications can we truly create value. The most successful companies possess two key traits: they establish a safe, flexible digital foundation while sparking employee enthusiasm to turn vision into action."

Looking ahead: APAC industrial leaders' recommendations

To bridge the gap between ambition and reality and lay the groundwork for industrial 5.0 readiness, companies must adopt holistic strategic approaches:

Establish a value-driven technology strategy: Combine technology deployment with measurable business outcomes and investment returns.

Utilize core technologies to create cross-functional impact: Start by strengthening core platforms, achieving end-to-end visibility and knowledge sharing.

Treat data as a strategic asset: Break down silos and integrate cross-functional data to build AI-ready infrastructure, empowering enterprise-wide insights.

Prioritize rapid technology integration preparation: Develop agile methods to seamlessly integrate new technologies with existing infrastructure.

Forecast industrial 5.0 thinking: Focus on people-centered, sustainable, and resilient transformation, building a future-oriented company.

"APAC companies that can genuinely implement these transformations will turn scattered pilot projects into enterprise-level solutions, winning market advantages while paving the way for constructing a people-centered, flexible industrial future."

To view the complete research report, please visit: www.ibm.com/downloads/documents/cn-zh/137a1e22185bac87

* Research methodology

A study commissioned by IBM assessing industrial 4.0 readiness in APAC reflects the opinions of 135 technology, data, and business leaders from manufacturing and energy/utility sectors. The research was conducted by Ecosystm in March 2025, providing a comprehensive overview of the challenges and opportunities faced by this region, covering China, India, Korea, ASEAN, and Australia.