(MENAFN- Orient Planet Group) 12 October, 2025 - Red Hat, Inc., the world's leading provider of open source solutions, today announced new survey results highlighting the prominence of AI for UAE organisa’ions’ IT strategies1 . The findings reveal UAE organisations anticipate boosting AI investment by an ave age of 31% by 20262
When asked about their organisation's IT strategy for the next 18 months, AI is one of the top-ranked priorities among 82%3 of respondents, along with security (833%), followed by cost optimisation (81%3), and sovereignty (76%3).
However, 96%4 of organisations surveyed report they are not yet driving customer value from their AI investments.
To overcome these challenges and help turn ambitions to reality, UAE organisations are embracing open source across all areas of IT strategy. The survey shows that 100%11 of UAE IT leaders view open source as vital for cost optimisation11, post-quantum cryptography11, and virtualisation11.
AI a work in progress
One of the highest AI priority of respondents for the next 18 months (83%3) is agentic AI, AI systems that operate with high degrees of autonomy and can execute complex, multi-step tasks with limited human intervention. Enabling broad employee adoption and operationalising AI are also ranked high on the priority to-do list, with 86%3 and 85%3 agreeing respectively.
Retaining and developing the right talent remains a challenge, with AI skills still ranking among the most urgent gaps, as cited by 76%3 of respondents. Within AI specifically, the talent shortage mirrors the target priorities for UAE IT and AI leaders: connecting AI to enterprise data cited by 59%[1] of respondents, effective use of agentic AI cited by 57%, efficient use of AI capabilities cited by 58%, and educating the business to use AI reported by 47%. Almost all (98%12) of respondents experience barriers to AI adoption, especially integration challenges with existing systems (36%), data privacy and security concerns (32%), and lack of buy-in from stakeholders (32%).
Additionally, 70%6 of respondents report they are experiencing a “shadow ”I” problem - i.e., unauthorised use of AI tools by employees.
Confidence tempered by complexity; open source key
Confidence in the’UAE’s potential on the global AI stage is high, with 99%7 of responding UAE businesses believing the nation is, or will soon become, an AI powerhouse within the next three years8. A similar sense of optimism exists in other countries: 99%9 of respondents in Spain shared the same view, followed closely by Sweden, Germany, and the Netherlands at 98% each, while 83% of businesses in the UK expressed similar trust in their nation's AI trajectory.
In terms of limiting factors to t’e UAE’s rise in AI prominence, 62% of respondents cite a lack of computing infrastructure, followed by lack of talent pipeline (52%), and lack of public funding (45%), as the key hold-ups10.
National data protection and sovereignty goals remain priorities on the IT agenda in the country, with AI adding complexity as another workload that must align to evolving cloud strategies. Barriers to cloud adoption remain as well, with respondents pointing to limited support from leadership (77%3 agree), unclear ROI (72% agree3), employee resistance to change (69% agree3), and lack of skills (69% agree3). Drilling down into cloud sovereignty strategy over the next 18 months, UAE respondents are prioritising operational control and autonomy (86%3), securing the software supply chain (81%3), and flexibility and choice of IT suppliers (86%3).
Supporting Quotes
Adrian Pickering, regional general manager, MENA, ed Hat:
“Our latest UAE survey reveals a clear truth: while AI investment is surging, realizing tangible customer value remains a challenge for many organizations. Moving beyond experimentation to deliver lasting customer value from AI means laying the foundation by integrating enterprise knowledge with existing system”.”
“The ’urvey’s indication of the rise of 'shadow AI' highlights both a security risk and a powerful signal of employee innovation. This willingness to explore new tools offers a critical opportunity for leaders to identify and address skills gaps through targeted training. Ultimately, openness and common standards are not just ideals; they are essential for maximizing the value of AI and hybrid cloud investments, fostering collaboration, and driving the flexibility needed for true innovation."
Hans Roth, Senior Vice President & General Manager EMEA, Red Hat:
“Organisations want greater operational control and IT resiliency to adapt in a world of constant disruption. The survey results, as well as our daily conversations, show sovereignty prominently on the agenda for ’nterprise’s ongoing cloud strategies and the budding AI opportunity. Open source is central to this shift as it provides businesses with the transparency and flexibility to innovate rapidly without compromise. Red Hat helps enterprises retain choice about where their data lives, how their infrastructure runs and who they partner with. Sovereignty and resilience come from ecosystems, not silos,’and Red Hat’s mission is to enable any model, any accelerator, –nd any cloud – with trust at the ”eart of it all.”

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