AI At Full Throttle: What 2026 Looks Like For Enterprises In CEEMETA

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times)

Across the Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East, Turkey & Africa (CEEMETA) region, the pace of AI adoption has moved from steady to rapid. What felt ambitious just a year ago is now baseline. Boards expect measurable returns, operations expect automation, and customers expect experiences powered by intelligence at every touch point.

Businesses in this region are no longer experimenting – they are scaling. And they are doing so in a region defined by unique challenges: energy pressures, sovereignty demands, regulatory nuances, legacy complexities and the sheer diversity of languages and markets.

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Here are six key predictions for the road ahead.

1. AI-driven speed: The new benchmark

Speed has always mattered, but AI is making it the defining factor that separates leaders from laggards. Historically, intricate regulations and cross-border operations slowed businesses down. AI changes that. CEEMETA markets are already racing ahead with countries like the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Poland and Turkey accelerating national AI strategies over the last 18 months.

We now see workflows resolved in seconds as hyper-automation replaces manual processes. Government departments in the Gulf use AI to streamline operations, while customer service centers in Poland and South Africa cut resolution times with generative AI and real-time data. Even complex tasks like financial modelling are now performed almost instantly. The companies that build and deploy AI quickly, supported by intelligent infrastructure, will shape the region's digital economy.

2. Rebuilding Infrastructure for the AI era

Much of the region's enterprise infrastructure was not designed for the demands of modern AI. Cloud strategies developed years ago are now strained by the explosion of unstructured data, which AI thrives on. This data, growing 55% annually, must be analyzed, governed, and secured.

In 2026, enterprises will embrace hybrid strategies to meet these demands. Critical data and high-value AI workloads will remain on-premises for security and cost control. The cloud will provide scale and flexibility for less sensitive tasks. This balanced approach gives organizations options, allowing them to choose the right infrastructure for each workload based on performance, cost, and control. In 2026, enterprises will adopt hybrid strategies. Critical data and high-value agents will remain on-premises for security and cost control, while the cloud will handle scale and flexibility for less sensitive workloads. AI PCs will push inference and decision-making to the edge, reducing latency and keeping sensitive data local.

Businesses that default to cloud-only solutions risk losing control of their differentiators and facing spiraling costs. The key is having options - different infrastructure for different workloads based on performance, cost and control requirements.

3. Rapid token adoption in CEEMETA is reshaping the full technology stack

Across CEEMETA, enterprises are experiencing a dramatic surge in token consumption - the“fuel” behind every AI interaction. In financial hubs like the UAE, a single AI request can now trigger dozens of processes, touching APIs, identity checks, compliance systems, databases, and more. Each step generates tokens, and as volumes climb, they place new demands on the entire technology stack: storage, networking, compute, security, and governance.

Token growth is now outpacing the expansion of raw compute power. This means organizations need more than just advanced GPUs - they need high-bandwidth networking, robust storage, and seamless orchestration to unlock the full performance of agentic and generative AI. Those who optimize for this stack will be best positioned to deliver reliable, secure, and scalable AI experiences as the technology landscape continues to evolve.

4. Micro LLMs will bring AI to the Edge

Centralized AI is evolving into a more distributed model, where large models and micro LLMs work together to bring intelligence everywhere. Micro LLMs require less power - a critical advantage in a region with rising energy costs - and can operate at the edge where data is created.

This shift is a game-changer for industries in remote or low-bandwidth locations, like mining in Africa or manufacturing in Poland. Moving AI to the edge offers significant benefits:

. Speed: Latency disappears when a model runs locally on a device.

. Privacy: Data stays on the device, reducing compliance and security risks.

. Resiliency: Systems continue to function even without a network connection.

5. AI and cybersecurity will converge to become inseparable

As AI becomes embedded in every part of a business, cybersecurity emerges as a defining challenge. The CEEMETA region is already one of the world's fastest-growing targets for cyber-attacks, and threat actors are using generative AI to scale their efforts.

To counter this, organizations will adopt hybrid environments and zero-trust architectures to keep sensitive AI workloads secure. AI PCs and edge devices will act as frontline defenders, mitigating threats locally. In a region where digital resilience is a national priority, AI security will become as important as AI productivity. Successful businesses will treat them as a single, unified discipline.

6. AI robotics: The next frontier

Robotics is undergoing a dramatic redefinition thanks to AI. Instead of programming a robot for a specific task, you can now give it a goal and let it learn through experience. These AI-powered robots are moving beyond the factory floor to take on repetitive or dangerous work that humans shouldn't have to do.

Imagine fleets of drones monitoring agricultural fields in rural South Africa or AI-enabled crawlers inspecting power grids and coordinating their own repairs. The shift to physical AI is already underway. The enterprises that deploy purpose-built, AI-enabled robotics will operate at a speed and scale that today's automation cannot match.

The road ahead

The race to integrate AI across CEEMETA is accelerating. Speed, modern infrastructure, edge intelligence, and physical automation are all part of a larger transformation. The opportunity is enormous, but so is the urgency to modernize. The year 2026 will reward the businesses that run fast, move responsibly, and build AI into the very fabric of their operations. The question is no longer whether to adopt AI - it's whether your organization is ready to lead the way.

The writer is Senior Vice President – CEEMETA, Dell Technologies.

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