Businesses in Uzbekistan accelerate AI and cybersecurity investment to gain competitive edge

The study, which surveyed over 70 enterprises across Central Asia and the Caucasus alongside 2,500 tech executives globally, indicates that local players are increasingly adept at implementing new solutions amid market uncertainties. Industrial sectors in the region are adopting artificial intelligence at a pace that surpasses global benchmarks. Specifically, 53% of regional companies are already using artificial intelligence in industrial settings with measurable results, compared to a global average of just 24%.

Confidence in these technological shifts remains exceptionally high. A vast majority of respondents view technology investments as their primary source of competitive advantage in the coming years, with 93% of regional companies forecasting revenue growth over the next three years – slightly higher than the global baseline of 89%.

This optimism is accompanied by a substantial increase in cybersecurity spending. The report highlights that 63% of companies in the region have significantly expanded their cybersecurity budgets, far exceeding the global rate of 41%. The most pronounced growth in security funding was observed in Georgia and Uzbekistan.

Furthermore, Uzbek businesses are showing a unique interest in advanced modeling and digital twins – virtual replicas of physical assets used to simulate real-world performance. Every surveyed organization from Uzbekistan plans to increase spending in this field, contrasted against a regional average of 87% and a global average of 72%.

KPMG experts attribute this specific trend to the prominent role that capital-intensive and infrastructure-heavy industries play in the Uzbek economy. For sectors like energy, mining, manufacturing, and logistics, digital twins serve as a practical mechanism to optimize operations and improve asset reliability.

Despite rapid integration, the accelerated pace of digital transformation brings specific operational risks. Half of the surveyed companies in the region do not systematically track the actual financial and operational returns on their IT investments, and an equal number reported difficulties when trying to scale their artificial intelligence solutions.

The report also reveals that enterprises in Central Asia and the Caucasus dedicate a smaller portion of their resources to maintaining existing digital infrastructure, allocating 21% of their IT budgets toward system upkeep compared to a global average of 34%. Analysts caution that underfunding maintenance could lead to a buildup of technical debt, making future system upgrades more expensive and complex.

On the other hand, regional companies demonstrate strong compliance and governance compared to their international peers. Only 18% of businesses in the region are willing to compromise on data security, scalability, and standardization rules to fast-track project deployment, whereas nearly half – 48% – of global firms admit to cutting such corners. Additionally, securing corporate sponsorship for technology initiatives appears remarkably smooth in the region; only 9% of local executives reported struggles in obtaining executive backing for IT programs, compared to a significant 41% globally.